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46 known LGBTQ candidates running for D.C. ANC seats

32 running unopposed on ballot, 22 are incumbents

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Kent Boese continues in his role as director of the D.C. Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. (Photo courtesy of Boese)

At least 46 known LGBTQ candidates are running for seats on the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions in the Nov. 5 D.C. election, with a half dozen or more LGBTQ candidates running in each of the city’s wards except for Ward 3, where just two known LGBTQ candidates are running.

Among the 46 known LGBTQ candidates, 22 are incumbent ANC commissioners seeking re-election to another four-year term. The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which consists of LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website it currently has 27 incumbent commissioners, most of whom are running for re-election.

That appears to indicate the percentage of LGBTQ ANC members seeking to run for re-election is greater than the percentage of the overall number of ANC members running for another term. According to reports by the Washington Post and other media outlets, many ANC members have chosen not to run for re-election this year, based in part on the stress that goes with the job

Under the D.C. Home Rule Charter, Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners serve as unpaid elected officials charged with making recommendations to the city government on a wide range of neighborhood issues, including the approval of liquor licenses for bars and restaurants and zoning regulations. City officials are required to give “great weight” to the ANC recommendations, but government officials are not required to accept the recommendations.

The official list of ANC candidates on the D.C. election ballot released by the D.C. Board of Elections shows that 51 of the 345 ANC Single Member Districts, or SMDs, do not have a candidate running on the Nov. 5 election ballot. The Board of Elections has released a separate list of registered write-in candidates that includes several ANC candidates.

The Board of Elections list shows there are a far larger number of ANC single member districts in which a single candidate is running unopposed. Among the 46 LGBTQ ANC candidates, 32 have no opponent on the election ballot.

Gay ANC commissioner Vincent Slatt, who represents  the Dupont Circle ANC district 2B03, and who serves as chair of the ANC Rainbow Caucus, said ANC members face a considerable amount of stress.

“ANCs are volunteer, uncompensated positions that we do in addition to our day jobs,” Slatt told the Washington Blade. “There is an extremely high turnover rate due to the lack of support we receive from the executive agencies, and the perception of our neighbors that we provide constituent services that our Council members provide,” he said.

Slatt added that residents sometimes lack full understanding of the role of ANC members, which “has created a large amount of turnover, and the problem is getting worse.”

The Blade obtained its list of known LGBTQ ANC candidates in part from the ANC Rainbow Caucus, which compiled its own list of LGBTQ candidates, and from the LGBTQ Victory Fund, the national group that supports LGBTQ candidates for elective office, which released a list of 13 Victory Fund  “approved” ANC candidates. The Blade obtained a few  additional names of LGBTQ ANC candidates not on the Rainbow Caucus or Victory Fund lists from people who knew the candidates.

Also, among the known LGBTQ ANC candidates, in just two single member districts, two LGBTQ candidates are running against each other. One is in district 1B03 in the Columbia Heights neighborhood in which J. Swiderski is challenging incumbent Jamie S. Sycamore.

The other is in district 2G01 in the Shaw neighborhood in which Howard Garrett, the recently elected president of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s LGBTQ Democratic group, is running against community activist Parker Griffin. The two are competing for an ANC seat in which the incumbent is not running for re-election.

Similar to past election years, the largest number of known LGBTQ ANC candidates are running this year in districts in Ward 2, including the Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, and Shaw neighborhoods. However, more LGBTQ candidates this year are running in Wards 4, 5, and 8 than in past years. 

Gay former ANC commissioner Kent Boese, who until 2022 had represented the Ward 1 SMD in the Park View neighborhood, continues in his current role as director of the D.C. Office of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions, to which he was appointed in October 2022. Among his duties is to oversee fiscal and administrative operations of ANCs across the city.

Following is a list of the LGBTQ ANC candidates and the single member districts and neighborhoods in which they are running.

1A04 – (Columbia Heights)
Jeremy Sherman, he/him

1A07 – (Columbia Heights)
Mukta Ghorpadey, she/her

1A10 – (Columbia Heights)
Billy Easley, he/him

1B03 – (Columbia Heights/U Street)
J. Swiderski, they/he
Jamie S. Sycamore, he/him

1B06 – (Columbia Heights/Meridian Hill)
Miguel Trindade Deramo, he/him

1B07 – (U Street)
Matthew Holden, he/him

1D01 – (Mount Pleasant)
Jay Falk, she/her

1E01  – (Park View)
Brad Howard, he/him

1E07 – (Howard University/Pleasant Plains)
Brian Footer, he/him

2A05 – (Foggy Bottom)
Luke Chadwick, he/him

2B02 – (Dupont Circle)
Jeffrey Rueckgauer, he/him

2B03 – (Dupont Circle)
Vincent Slatt, he/him

2B09 – (Dupont Circle/U Street)
Christopher Davis, he/him

2C01 – (Penn Quarter)
Michael D. Shankle, he/him

2F05 – (Logan Circle)
Christopher Dyer, he/him

2F06 – (Logan Circle)
John Fanning, he/him

2F07 – (Logan Circle)
Kevin Cataldo, he/him

2G01 – (Shaw)
Parker Griffin, he/him
Howard Garrett, he/him

2G02 – (Shaw)
Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro, he/him

2G04 – (Shaw)
Steven McCarty, he/him

3B06 – (Wesley Heights)
S. Robert Rodriquez, he/him

3F05 – (Van Ness/Cleveland Park)
Adrian Jesus Iglesias, he/him

4B01 – (Takoma)
Doug Payton, he/him

4B10  – (Lamond Riggs)
Jinin Berry, she/her

4C06 – (Petworth)
Christen Boss Hayes, they/them

4E02 – (16th Street Heights)
Vince Micone, he/him

5B02 – (Brookland)
Nandini Sen, she/her

5B04 – (Brookland)
Ra Amin, he/him

5B05 – (Brookland)
Mónica Martínez López, she/her

5D05 – (Trinidad)
Salvador Sauceda-Guzman, he/him

5D06 – (Trinidad/Carver)
Charquinta (Char) McCray, she/her

5E05 – (Bloomingdale)
Tyler Lopez, he/him

5F06 – (Eckington)
Joe Bishop-Henchman, he/him 

6B03 – (Capitol Hill)
David Sobelsohn, he/him

6B09 – (Capitol Hill/Barney Circle)
Karen Hughes, she/her

7B05 – (Hillcrest)
Elizabeth Reddick, she/them

7C01 – (Deanwood)
Brian Glover, he/him

7C03 – (Lincoln Heights)
Carlos Richardson, he/him

7C08 – (Capitol View)
Brandon M. Scott, he/him

7E06 – (Benning Ridge)
Ravi K. Perry, he/him

8A01 – (Fairlawn)
Tom Donohue, he, him

8B05 – (Garfield Heights)
Marcus Thomas Hickman, he/him

8C08 – (Douglass)
Elizabeth Carter, she/her

8F04 – (Navy Yard)
Edward Daniels

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District of Columbia

Gay man found unconscious near D.C. gay bar dies

Police release video of suspects in incident listed as robbery

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D.C. police released a video showing two suspects and a vehicle they believe the suspects used in committing the robbery of Bryan Smith that led to his death. (Screen capture via MPD YouTube)

D.C. police have confirmed that a gay man who worked as a hairstylist and a DJ and who was found unconscious about 5 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 27, at the intersection of 5th and T Streets, N.W. near the gay bar Uproar has died.

Friends who knew the victim, Bryan Smith, stated in a GoFundMe message seeking support for his medical expenses that he was hospitalized for a severe head injury. His family members told Fox 5 News that he was in a coma.

A D.C. police spokesperson confirmed that Smith died on Nov. 7 and the cause and circumstances surrounding his death were pending with the Northern Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office. “Once we have more information, we’ll be putting that out,” D.C. police spokesperson Thomas Lynch told the Washington Blade.

The information released by D.C police indicates Smith at some point was transferred from a D.C. hospital where he was taken by ambulance at the time he was found unconscious to a Virginia hospital, most likely at the request of family members.

Police also released a video showing two suspects and a vehicle they believe the suspects used in committing the robbery of Smith.

“The ongoing investigation has determined that the man was robbed by two suspects while walking on the block,” according to an Oct. 30 police statement released before Smith died. “Detectives are still working to determine how the victim sustained his injuries,” the statement says.

The statement adds that the suspects have been linked to three other offenses that took place that same morning, two of which were attempted robberies and one of which was a robbery of victims on nearby streets.

Smith was found unconscious on Oct. 27 about five hours after another gay man, Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarra, 22, was reportedly attacked and beaten by as many as 15 men and women at the McDonald’s restaurant at 14th and U Street, N.W., according to a D.C. police report and information provided by Lascarra’s husband.

D.C. police announced they made an arrest Nov. 5 of a 16-year-old juvenile male in connection with the McDonald’s case. The arrest came on the same day police released photos of seven suspects in the McDonald’s assault case taken from video cameras at or near the McDonald’s.

In their release of the video showing the two suspects in the Smith case, police are asking that anyone who may recognize the two individuals should contact police at 202-727-9099 or text their tip to the department’s TEXT TIP Line at 50411.

“Anyone who may have seen or heard something suspicious in the 500 block of T Street, NW, or the surrounding area around 5:00 a.m. Sunday [Oct. 27] is asked to call the police or text police,” the statement accompanying the release of the police video says. 

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District of Columbia

D.C. voters approve controversial Initiative 83

Proponents hope measure will allow more minority votes to be heard

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Initiative 83 supporters celebrated at Crush Bar on election night. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

It’s ironic that the city that is home to the federal government gets almost no say in how the federal government is run.

From license plates that display the phrase “No Taxation Without Representation” to countless “51st State” stickers seen everywhere, the residents of Washington are well aware that their vote carries less weight than other Americans.

Despite this, one group in Washington is attempting to expand residents’ electoral power through Initiative 83. The group ‘Yes On 83’ has been the driving force behind the measure. They have put up signs across the city, handed out flyers, and spoken to people about what the initiative would change.  

“Initiative 83 is a two-part ballot initiative,” said Porter Bowman, the volunteer communications director for Yes On 83. “It does two things. One, would implement ranked choice voting in primaries and general elections in D.C., as well as let independents vote in the primary of their choosing.”

On Tuesday after the polls closed, the Yes on 83 team gathered at Crush Dance Bar on 14th Street for an election watch party. There, groups of purple wearing volunteers gathered on the dance floor to celebrate their work and watch election results trickle in.

One of those volunteers is Ruby Coleman, the student engagement coordinator for the Yes On 83 campaign and an American University student who was passionate about the measure. She explained this is a win for Washington voters, regardless of how they voted on the measure.

“It will hold our politicians accountable,” Coleman said as her co-volunteers danced behind her. “Ranked choice voting will make it easier to vote out politicians who do not work for us, since they need the 50% threshold, it’ll make it a lot easier for us to vote them out.”

 In ranked choice voting, 51% is the golden number. The way ranked choice voting works is voters rank their preferred candidates in order of preference (first, second, third). Then, only the first choices of voters are counted. If a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote they win the race. 

If no candidate reaches that 51% threshold, then the person with the least number of votes is eliminated and everyone who voted for the now eliminated candidate has their second option vote counted. This process of eliminating the lowest supported candidate continues until one of the candidates reaches above 50% of the vote.

This in theory encourages voters to research all the potential candidates’ platforms and ideas, as well as provide more balanced voting by eliminating “spoiler” votes where similar candidates split the vote causing neither to win. 

In addition to ranked choice voting, Initiative 83 also allows for independents, or those not registered to any party, to vote in Washington’s primary elections. Washington has formerly only allowed registered partisan voters to partake in primary votes.  

There are many reasons why residents may not register under a major party. Some people feel party platforms don’t reflect their ideas, others, like journalists and high-level federal workers, may not register to avoid appearing partisan.

At about 10:15 p.m. on Tuesday, the Yes On 83 group celebrated a premature victory. At this point, approximately 55% of Washingtonians’ votes had been counted. The ‘Yes’ vote for Initiative 83 held a strong lead, with 72% in favor, while the ‘No’ vote trailed at less than 30%.

Lisa D. T. Rice, the proposer of the initiative, was beaming on Crush’s stage as she addressed the volunteers on the dance floor. 

“After a full, tiring, but momentous day, I’m especially proud and looking over the sea of faces, I know what an amazing team we have here,” Rice said to start her nearly eight-minute-long speech. “As a native Washingtonian woman of persistence, I proposed Initiative 83 here in my hometown to put voters first. I love this city, and I think we deserve a political system where politicians have to work harder to earn our votes.”

Proponents of Initiative 83 have said the ranked choice system will allow for more voices to be heard, including those of the LGBTQ community. 

“In ranked choice voting, you have the opportunity to vote based on your values and not necessarily strategically,” Coleman told the Blade. “That means that you can vote for someone who you want to win over someone who you think is going to win.”

“A very easy example of this is if you’re looking at the presidential election and you want to vote third party, but you think the Democratic candidate might win, you can still vote third party first and put the Democratic candidate second,” Coleman continued. “You’re not losing any votes. You’re not wasting your votes. And so that’s the same minority candidates, including LGBTQ candidates. Studies have shown that ranked choice voting elects women, minority candidates, and candidates of color at a higher rate because people are not afraid to vote for them, to put them first.”

Opponents of ranked choice voting have said the process is too complicated and will lead to voter confusion, a longer counting process, and may not reflect the true majority preference.

Despite this opposition, Washington has approved the initiative; 186,277 (or around 72%) of Washington voters said yes to the initiative, while 70,045 (27%) voters said no. 

“Ranked choice voting is a proven system to hold politicians accountable to a majority of voters, and letting independents like me, independents like me, vote in these taxpayer funded primaries, is just the right thing to do,” Rice continued in her victory speech. “We built a strong coalition of voters across the district, all wards, backgrounds, races, classes and political ideologies, who realized it’s time to make politicians work harder for us. Thank you to those who believed in us and joined us on this journey.”

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District of Columbia

Juvenile arrested in case of anti-gay attack at 14th & U McDonald’s

Move comes on same day D.C. police released photos of suspects

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Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro was attacked by a group of suspects on Oct. 27. (Photos courtesy of Stuart West)

D.C. police on Nov. 6 announced they had arrested one day earlier a 16-year-old juvenile male in connection with the Oct. 27 incident in which as many as 15 men and women allegedly assaulted a gay man at the McDonald’s restaurant at 14th and U Streets, N.W., with some of them shouting an anti-gay slur.

A police statement says the 16-year-old, a resident of Northwest D.C., was arrested Nov. 5 and charged with Assault With Significant Bodily Injury.

Under longstanding law enforcement policy, police do not release the names of juveniles under the age of 18 who are arrested unless a decision is made by prosecutors to charge the juvenile as an adult.

The arrest came several hours after police on the same day released photos of seven suspects linked to the McDonald’s incident. Police said they obtained the photos from one or more video security cameras at or near the McDonald’s.

But the brief police statement announcing the arrest does not say whether the juvenile was identified by someone who recognized him from one of the photos of suspects released that day. However, the statement announcing the arrest includes the photos of the seven suspects and urges anyone who can identify one or more of them to contact police.

“Anyone who can identify these suspects or who has knowledge of this incident should take no action but call police at 202-727-9099 or text your tip to the Department’s TEXT TIP LINE at 50411,” the statement says.

(Images courtesy of MPD)

The victim in the McDonald’s attack, 22-year-old Sebastian Thomas Robles Lascarro, was taken by ambulance to a hospital for treatment of serious but non-life-threatening injuries on the night of the attack before being released the next day. His husband, Stuart West, said Lascarro had been at two gay bars in the 14th and U Street area and stopped at the McDonald’s on his way home.

Lascarro told police, who have listed the incident as a suspected hate crime, that the multiple assaults began inside the McDonald’s when one of the female attackers criticized him for not saying “excuse me” when he walked past her.

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