Local
Iya Dammons on the need to fight Trump’s anti-trans attacks
Head of Safe Haven insists ‘we will not be erased’
This year’s Transgender Day of Visibility on March 31 comes amid numerous attacks on the community from President Trump and his congressional allies advancing sports bans, restricting affirming healthcare, and gutting federal funding of nonprofits that provide life-saving resources for the trans community.
One such organization operating in Baltimore and D.C. is Safe Haven, which runs shelters in both cities for trans people experiencing homelessness along with a variety of other services for the broader LGBTQ community, including HIV prevention.
Iya Dammons, who serves as executive director of both Safe Haven groups and operates the shelters, spoke to the Blade about the challenges of doing this work in the current political environment.
Dammons said federal funding for Safe Haven Baltimore and D.C. has been frozen by the Trump administration as part of its sweeping policy of opposing government support for transgender-related programs. But she said the mayor’s offices in Baltimore and D.C., including D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, have provided local funding to make up for the loss of federal funds.
“Things are looking dire, but we have to continue our services,” she said. “So, we’re continuing to do the services in Washington, D.C. In Baltimore City we’re also being told that at the end of the day we can keep doing services and the city of Baltimore stands with us,” she said by providing financial support.
In addition to providing transitional housing for transgender people and others in the LGBTQ community experiencing homelessness, under Dammons’s leadership, Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women “navigating survival mode” living, according to its website.
“Through compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individuals,” a website statement says. “Our programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,” it says.
Dammons says she and her associates at Safe Haven are responding to the hostile environment brought about by the Trump administration, among other things, by promoting a theme of “We Will Not Be Erased,” which will be highlighted in a Baltimore street mural.
As a follow-up to another street mural initiated by Dammons on Charles Street in Baltimore in July 2020 called “Black Trans Lives Matter,” the new “We Will Not Be Erased” mural is scheduled to be painted on a two-block section of Charles Street on March 29.
“So, this year, because of what is happening with the Trump administration, that he is trying to erase our population, this is going to say we won’t be erased,” Dammons told the Blade. “And it’s going to reflect our Black Trans Lives Matter mural,” she said.
Dammons said she is disappointed by Mayor Bowser’s seeming acquiescence to the Trump administration’s demand that she remove the D.C. Black Lives Matter street mural located on 16th Street, N.W. opposite the White House that Bowser had installed during Trump’s first term as president.
“She was likely to lose funding, so I understand,” Dammons said, referring to threats by Trump and Republican members of Congress to cut millions of dollars from the D.C. budget if the mayor did not remove the Black Lives Matter mural.
But Dammons said she does not think Bowser has spoken out forcefully enough about Trump’s actions toward the trans community.
Dammons, who founded Safe Haven Baltimore, which is also known as Safe Haven Maryland, in 2018, is credited with playing the lead role in its growth with a current budget of $3.8 million. She founded Safe Haven D.C. in 2023 at the time the trans supportive D.C. LGBTQ community services center Casa Ruby shut down. The D.C. Safe Haven is located at 331 H St., N.E.
In recognition of her work and contribution to the community, the Baltimore mayor and City Council in June of 2024 named a Baltimore street where the Safe Haven offices are located as Iya Dammons Way in her honor.
Dammons said she was highly honored by the street name designation and has pointed out that with the purchase of a second building to house its offices and services scheduled to open in Baltimore in June, Safe Haven has emerged as one of the nation’s largest trans-led LGBTQ nonprofit service organizations.
“It may be the largest trans-led organization by a Black trans woman of color,” she said. “It’s the largest one on the East Coast led by a Black trans woman of color.”
Regarding Trump and the anti-transgender actions by his administration, Dammons said that as a Black trans woman, “Everything that they have removed from my clients and the people I serve, he has removed from me.”
“And we have no other choice at the end of the day than to stand up and fight back and know that we won’t be erased,” she said. “There is no other choice than to stand up and fight back because, for them, this is a lifestyle. But to us, this is us. So, it’s a whole different ballgame when you look at the people we serve.”
Trans Day of Visibility events
• Trans Day of Vision picnic and rally, March 30, 1-5 p.m., Malcolm X Park. For more information, visit the DC Center’s website.
• Trans Day of Visibility rally and reception in Montgomery County, March 31, 4-7 p.m., 4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, Md. RSVP at liveinyourtruth.org.
• ‘Building Power and Solidarity Across Generations’ webinar featuring trans leaders, March 31, 7 p.m. EST, RSVP via GLAAD’s website.
• Rally featuring members of Congress, March 31, 4 p.m., National Mall between 3rd Street and 4th Street, D.C.
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, alleges failure to address ‘sexual misconduct’
In startling letter, Taylor Chandler says board’s inaction protected ‘sexual predator’
Taylor Lianne Chandler, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors since 2019 who most recently served as the board’s secretary, submitted a letter of resignation on Feb. 24 that alleges the board has failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
The Washington Blade received a copy of Chandler’s resignation letter one day after she submitted it from an anonymous source. Chandler, who identifies as transgender and intersex, said in an interview that she did not send the letter to the Blade, but she suspected someone associated with Capital Pride, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, “wants it out in the open.”
“It is with a heavy heart, but with absolute clarity, that I submit my resignation from the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors effective immediately,” Chandler states in her letter. “I have devoted nearly ten years of my life to this organization,” she wrote, pointing to her initial involvement as a volunteer and later as a producer of events as chair of the organization’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee.
“Capital Pride once meant something profound to me – a space of safety, visibility, and community for people who have often been denied all three,” her letter continues. “That is no longer the organization I am part of today.”
“I, along with other board members, brought forward credible concerns regarding sexual misconduct – a pattern of behavior spanning years – to the attention of this board,” Chandler states in the letter. “What followed was not accountability. What followed was retaliation. Rather than addressing the substance of what was reported, officers and fellow board members chose to chastise those of us who came forward.”
The letter adds, “This board has made its priorities clear through its actions: protecting a sexual predator matters more than protecting the people who had the courage to come forward. … I have been targeted, bullied, and made to feel like an outsider for doing what any person of integrity would do – telling the truth.”
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Anna Jinkerson, who serves as chair of the Capital Pride board, sent the Blade a statement praising Taylor Chandler’s efforts as a Capital Pride volunteer and board member but did not specifically address the issue of alleged sexual misconduct.
“We’re also aware that her resignation letter has been shared with the media and has listed concerns,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said.
“As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “We’re doing this because the community’s experience with CPA must always be safe, affirming, empowering, and inclusive,” she added.
In an interview with the Blade, Chandler said she was not the target of the alleged sexual harassment.
She said a Capital Pride investigation identified one individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior over a period of time. But she said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that applies to all board members and she cannot disclose the name of the person implicated in alleged sexual misconduct or those who came forward to complain about it.
“It was one individual, but there was a pattern and a history,” Chandler said, noting that was the extent of what she can disclose.
“And I’ll say this,” she added. “In my opinion, with gay culture sometimes the touchy feely-ness that goes on seems to be like just part of the culture, not necessarily the same as a sexual assault or whatever. But at the same time, if someone does not want those advances and they’re saying no and trying to push you away and trying to avoid you, then it makes it that way regardless of the culture.”
When asked about when the allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced, Chandler said, “In the past year is when the allegation came forward from one individual. But in the course of this all happening, other individuals came forward and talked about instances – several which showed a pattern.”
Chandler’s resignation comes about five months after Capital Pride Alliance announced in a statement released in October 2025 that its then board president, Ashley Smith, resigned from his position on Oct. 18 after Capital Pride became aware of a “claim” regarding Smith. The statement said the group retained an independent firm to investigate the matter, but it released no further details since that time. Smith has declined to comment on the matter.
When asked by the Blade if the Smith resignation could be linked in some way to allegations of sexual misconduct, Chandler said, “I can’t make a comment one way or the other on that.”
Chandler’s resignation and allegations come after Capital Pride Alliance has been credited with playing the lead role in organizing the World Pride celebration hosted by D.C. in which dozens of LGBTQ-related Pride events were held from May through June of 2025.
The letter of resignation also came just days before Capital Pride Alliance’s annual “Reveal” event scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Hamilton Hotel in which the theme for D.C.’s June 2026 LGBTQ Pride events was to be announced along with other Pride plans.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
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