District of Columbia

Pope names LGBTQ supportive Cardinal as head of Archdiocese of Washington

McElroy praised as ‘brilliant theologian and astute political analyst’

Published

2 weeks ago

January 8, 2025

Cardinal Robert McElroy (Photo courtesy the Vatican)

Pope Francis on Jan. 6 named Cardinal Robert McElroy of San Diego, who has a record of support for the LGBTQ community, as the new Archbishop of Washington, D.C.

At the time he is officially installed at a ceremony scheduled for March 11 at D.C.’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, he will replace retiring Cardinal Wilton Gregory, who has served as Archbishop of Washington since 2019 and who also has been supportive of the LGBTQ community.

As Archbishop of Washington, McElroy will serve as leader of the Archdiocese of Washington, which includes Catholic churches and other Catholic facilities in all of D.C. and five Maryland counties – Montgomery, Prince George’s, Calvert, Charles, and St. Mary’s.

Francis DeBernardo, executive director of the Mt. Rainier, Md., based LGBTQ Catholic organization New Ways Ministry, released a statement praising McElroy’s appointment.

“New Ways Ministry is delighted that Pope Francis has appointed Cardinal Robert McElroy as the next Archbishop of Washington, D.C.,” DeBernardo said in his statement. “Cardinal McElroy, a brilliant theologian and astute political analyst, is the perfect person to lead this important archdiocese into the future,” he said.

DeBernardo added, “Of course, the most exciting feature about this appointment for New Ways Ministry is the cardinal’s strong positive statements regarding LGBTQ+ issues. His particular angle in this area is one often overlooked by other church leaders: He constantly calls on members of the church to examine their negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people.”

Among other things, DeBernardo pointed to a statement by McElroy in 2024 criticizing church leaders in the U.S. who objected to Pope Francis’s Vatican directive allowing the church to bless people in same-sex relationships while not endorsing same-sex marriage.

“He stated that opposition to such blessings reveals ‘an enduring animus among far too many toward LGBT persons,’” DeBernardo quoted McElroy’s statement as saying.

DeBernardo cited these additional statements or actions by McElroy in support of the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ Catholics:

• In a 2023 essay, McElroy objected to what he called the “profound and visceral animus” toward LGBTQ people reflected among some in the Catholic Church, referring to the anti-LGBTQ animus as a “demonic mystery of the human soul.”

• In 2018, he publicly criticized the way he said gay priests were being scapegoated by some for the clergy sexual abuse crisis, saying such abuse was a matter of power, not sexual orientation.

• Also in 2018, McElroy expressed support for a gay pastoral worker at a church in his San Diego Archdiocese, Aaron Bianco, who was subjected to threats and harassment from some fellow church members because he was married to another man.

• In 2016, McElory was one of the first Catholic Church leaders to offer condolences to the LGBTQ community after the Pulse gay nightclub mass shooting, in which a lone gunman killed 49 mostly LGBTQ people and wounded 53 others at the Orlando, Fla., nightclub.

DeBernardo pointed to what he called the importance of Cardinal McElroy’s assuming a high-level church leadership position in the nation’s capital at a time when the incoming U.S. president, Donald Trump, and incoming Congress were not expected to be supportive of LGBTQ rights.

“We are confident that Cardinal McElroy can provide a strong Catholic voice affirming the human dignity of LGBTQ+ people and the need for laws that will protect them,” DeBernardo said in his statement.

“New Ways Ministry is grateful to Cardinal Wilton Gregory for his leadership in Washington over the past decade,” the statement says. “Cardinal Gregory, too, has shown great concern for the dignity and rights of LGBTQ+ people. His legacy as a prophetic leader will endure.”

Vince Rodriguez, president of the local LGBTQ Catholic organization Dignity Washington, shares DeBernardo’s view that McElroy will have a positive impact on the LGBTQ community and LGBTQ Catholics.

“I’m delighted, absolutely delighted about this appointment that the Pope has made,” Rodriquez told the Washington Blade. “I think it’s a pretty timely decision given the incoming administration and some of the pushback that we’ve seen on LGBT rights and what may be coming,” he said in referring to the incoming Trump administration.

“So, I think it will be good to have a voice here in Washington to hopefully challenge some of that,” Rodriguez said.

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District of Columbia

D.C. police seek help in Dupont Circle murder probe

Records show victim was arrested three times for area assaults

Published

1 hour ago

January 22, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Dominique Ratiff was stabbed to death on Dec. 30. (Photo courtesy of the MPD)

D.C. police are seeking help from the public in their investigation into the Dec. 30 Dupont Circle stabbing death of a 36-year-old man who had been arrested at least three times between 2016 and 2023 for assault related incidents in the neighborhood, according to police and court records.

A police announcement says D.C. police and U.S. Park Police officers responded at about 3:58 p.m. Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, to Dupont Circle for a report of a stabbing. It says an adult male later identified as Dominique Ratiff of Southeast D.C. was found unresponsive suffering from a stab wound.

According to the statement, he was taken to a hospital and pronounced dead. Police said they have made no arrest in the case, but a police liaison officer told the Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commission that a suspect was described as a male wearing a purple beanie and baggy sweatpants leaving the scene on a bicycle on New Hampshire Avenue, N.W.

Police have said the stabbing occurred at the western side of Dupont Circle that intersects with Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. near the CVS Pharmacy and a PNC Bank.

Court records show that Ratiff was first arrested on June 2, 2016, on a charge of assault with a dangerous weapon and simple assault for allegedly hitting a woman with his walking cane following a “verbal altercation” in Dupont Circle.

D.C. Superior Court records show he was arrested again on June 15, 2016, for allegedly repeatedly punching a homeless man outside the man’s tent near 901 27th St., N.W., while wearing boxing gloves. That incident did not occur at Dupont Circle, but court records show prosecutors combined that case with the earlier assault case against the woman.

The records show both cases were dismissed by a judge after Ratiff complied with his pre-trial release requirements and successfully completed a “mental health” diversion program.

Records show Ratiff’s third arrest took place on April 16, 2022, when he was charged with Robbery Force and Violence, Theft Second-Degree, and Simple Assault for allegedly pushing a male victim against the wall outside of the CVS Pharmacy at Dupont Circle and taking money from the man after threatening to stab him.

Again, court records show all charges were dismissed against Ratiff after he complied with his pre-trial release requirements and successfully completed a court diversion program that included community service.

His fourth arrest occurred on July 18, 2023, court records show, when he was charged with Unlawful Entry-Private Property and Simple Assault for allegedly entering the CVS Pharmacy at Dupont Circle after having been barred from the premises one year earlier and assaulting a CVS manager who told him he had to leave.

The records show that a remote “citation” hearing was held on Aug. 9, 2023, which Ratiff attended with his attorney. According to the records, a judge ordered him to return to court on Sept. 20, 2023, for an arraignment and a judicial summons with the order was mailed to his address at 2863 Denver St., S.E.

The summons was returned as “undeliverable” on Aug. 22, 2023, and Ratiff failed to appear at the Sept. 20 hearing, the records show, prompting the judge to issue a bench warrant for his arrest. But the records show no further action, such as an arrest, had taken place and authorities did not learn of Ratiff’s whereabouts until the time he was found fatally stabbed in Dupont Circle.

Gay Dupont Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Vincent Slatt has called Ratiff’s murder a tragedy that possibly could have been prevented by better social services programs that Slatt said could have been arranged by the court system.

“This guy had gone through the system multiple times, and the social services have failed him,” Slatt told the Washington Blade. “And it resulted in him getting killed.”

Slatt added, “So, he was in several of these deferment programs. But ultimately, he still needed the social services, and it cost him his life,” Slatt said. “This is an indication that we need to improve our social services. And these people are falling through the cracks.”

D.C. police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person responsible for Ratiff’s murder. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation is asked to call the police Homicide Branch at 202-645-9600.

District of Columbia

Team Rayceen Productions goes on ‘indefinite’ hiatus

Local LGBTQ advocacy group’s co-founder resigns

Published

1 day ago

January 21, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Activist Rayceen Pendarvis will remain active in the community but colleague Zar announced his resignation. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Local community activist Zar, who founded the D.C. LGBTQ event and advocacy group Team Rayceen Productions in 2014 in collaboration with fellow activist Rayceen Pendarvis, announced he has resigned from his position as the group’s creative director effective Jan. 14.

His announcement says since there is currently “nobody who is willing, ready, or able to be my successor, I must also announce that the current Winter Hiatus of Team Rayceen Productions will continue indefinitely.”

The announcement says Rayceen Pendarvis will remain active in the community and remain available to be booked as a host, emcee, panelist, and wedding officiant in the role Pendarvis has played in the D.C. community for many years.

The primary motivation for his resignation at this time, Zar said in his announcement, is his deep concern about the problems he believes will surface during the incoming Trump administration.

“I am all but certain that the next four years and beyond will be chaotic, and possibly dystopian or apocalyptic,” he says in his announcement. “This is not the time for diplomacy, compromise, or capitulation,” he continues. “I understand that advocating for peaceful and nonviolent solutions is generally considered the only acceptable tactic; I am unwilling to abide.”

Out of deference to Pendarvis and others involved with Team Rayceen Productions, Zar said it would be unfair “to allow my personal and political views to be conflated with those of anyone else,” including those involved with Team Rayceen Productions.

“This requires my resignation,” Zar wrote in his announcement. “I am unwilling to be silent or censor myself.”

Zar said that while Team Rayceen Productions’ operations are currently on hold, its online content will remain available, “including over 900 videos created over the past five years for our YouTube channel and our Facebook live streams.”

District of Columbia

25K people attend People’s March in D.C.

President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration is on Monday

Published

4 days ago

January 18, 2025

Michael K. Lavers

The People's March was held downtown Washington on Jan. 18, 2025. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Upwards of 25,000 people attended the People’s March that took place in D.C. on Saturday.

Participants — who protested against President-elect Donald Trump’s proposals they say would target transgender people, immigrants, women, and other groups — gathered at McPherson and Farragut Squares and Franklin Park before they joined the march that ended at the Lincoln Memorial.

The Gender Liberation Movement is among the groups that sponsored the march. Dozens of other People’s Marches took place in cities across the country on Saturday.

Trump’s inauguration will take place in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda on Monday.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key and Michael K. Lavers)