District of Columbia
Trans woman attacked, beaten near Lincoln Memorial
D.C. police list June 29 incident as suspected hate crime
D.C. police are investigating an incident in which a 43-year-old transgender woman says she was attacked and assaulted by three men around 1:30 a.m. Sunday, June 29, as she was riding her battery powered scooter near the Lincoln Memorial.
District resident Cayla Calhoun, a popular bartender and sommelier at the D.C. restaurant Annabelle, told the Washington Blade she is struggling to recall the details and possible multiple locations of the attack due to the severe head injuries she has suffered.
A police report says Calhoun was found lying on a curb at the intersection of 19th Street and Constitution Avenue around 6 a.m. on June 29.
A GoFundMe appeal posted by her friend Ellen Vaughn, which reports Calhoun was found semiconscious at that time and taken to George Washington University Hospital, says her injuries include two concussions, multiple broken ribs, seven cranial fractures, and a fractured elbow.
The police report says Calhoun called for an ambulance at the 19th and Constitution Avenue location and told the emergency medical technicians who arrived at the scene that her injuries were caused by her falling off of her skateboard multiple times.
The police report says three days later, on July 3, while at the hospital, Calhoun told police “that she now remembered being assaulted by three males at 19th and I Street, N.W.,“about three quarters of a mile from where the ambulance technicians found her on Constitution Avenue.
Calhoun told the Blade she believes her memory was faulty at the time she first spoke with the ambulance technicians and police due to her head injuries. She said she is now beginning to recall that the three male attackers, whom she describes as white males, first approached her as she was riding her scooter near the Reflecting Pool close to the Lincoln Memorial.
She said the incident occurred while she was taking her routine after-work scooter ride shortly after she completed her bartending shift at Annabelle at 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, June 28. She said her sometimes daily after-work scooter ride, which she took on the night of the attack, involves traveling along a bike path on the Rock Creek Parkway past the Kennedy Center to the Lincoln Memorial.
From the Lincoln Memorial she rides along the Reflecting Pool toward the Washington Monument, around which she circles before starting her ride home, heading north on 15th Street to her residence at 15th and R Street, N.W.
She said that on the night of the attack she now recalls passing three men who were also on scooters somewhere near the Lincoln Memorial and the reflecting pool.
“As I passed them, they yelled faggot and pedophile at me,” she told the Blade. “I was pulling onto the area there by the reflecting pond. And I figured I would ride right away.”
As best she recalls, the men followed her “and pushed me off my scooter and continued to yell slurs.” She said she recalls trying to ride away from the men and that her interaction with them may have continued in other nearby locations. But due to her head injuries she said she does not recall being assaulted by the attackers, although the multiple injuries to her head and body convinced her they had to have struck her in some way multiple times.
“I have a space where I can see myself in that moment thinking to myself this is not good,” she said. “Somebody is making fun of you. You need to go as fast as you can and you need to find people. And that’s the last thought that I remember happening until the hospital.”
The D.C. police report lists the incident as an Aggravated Assault and identifies the weapon as “hands/feet.” The report lists the suspected motive as “Hate-Bias” based on the victim’s “Gender identity — anti-transgender/transsexual.”
A D.C. police spokesperson said the case remains under active investigation and that anyone with information about the case should contact police at 202-727-9099.
The attack against Johnson took place six days before another D.C. transgender woman, Dream Johnson, 28, was shot to death around 12:30 a.m. on July 5 in front of an apartment building at 2013 Benning Rd., N.E., according to a D.C. police report.
Police have yet to identify a motive in that case. But one of Johnson’s family members, her aunt, has said she learned through someone who spoke to a witness to the shooting that three men had approached Johnson while she was walking along Benning Road and one of them called her a derogatory name before one of them shot her multiple times.
Police are offering a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the murder. Anyone with information about this case is being asked to contact Homicide Detective Natasha Kennedy, the lead investigator, at 202-380-6198.
Local transgender rights advocate Earline Budd said close to 100 people turned out for a candlelight vigil held in Johnson’s honor on Saturday, July 12, at D.C.’s River Terrace Park. Among those who spoke at the vigil were Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs.
Further details about the Cayla Calhoun case can be accessed through her friend’s GoFundMe appeal.
District of Columbia
Campaign launched to elect more LGBTQ candidates to ANC seats
Capital Stonewall Democrats behind Queering ANCs effort
The Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political group, announced on July 7 it has launched a campaign to help elect large numbers of LGBTQ candidates to the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions.
The D.C. local government is believed to be unique among U.S. cities in currently having 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions consisting of 345 single-member districts in neighborhoods throughout the city in which unpaid Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners are elected for two-year terms.
The commissions are charged with considering a wide range of policies and programs impacting their neighborhoods, including traffic, parking, recreation, street improvements, liquor licenses, zoning, economic development, police protection, sanitation and trash collection, and D.C.’s annual budget, according to the ANC website.
Although the ANCs do not have authority to set or reject policies or proposals, such as applications for liquor licenses, city agencies are required to give “great weight” to ANC recommendations, according to the law creating the ANCs.
Kent Boese, a gay former ANC commissioner, currently serves as executive director of the D.C. Office of ANCs.
“We are launching the most ambitious hyperlocal LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline initiative in the country,” said Stevie McCarty, the Capital Stonewall Democrats president, in a July 7 statement that announced the Queering ANCs campaign.
“As an ANC member, I know firsthand how these seats shape our neighborhoods, from housing and public safety to sanitation,” McCarty says in the statement. “I’m proud to lead this effort to ensure more LGBTQ+ Washingtonians see themselves as leaders in their communities,” he said.
The ANC Rainbow Caucus, which was created by LGBTQ ANC members, shows on its website that there are currently 38 caucus members consisting of elected LGBTQ ANC commissioners serving in the current 2025-2026 two-year term.
The website shows there are LGBTQ commissioners who are caucus members in each of the city’s eight wards, with six in Ward 1, eight in Ward 2, one in Ward 3, six in Ward 4, five in Ward 5, three in Ward 6, eight in Ward 7, and one in Ward 8.
The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine how many of them will be running for re-election in D.C.’s general election in November. But McCarty said Capital Stonewall Democrats hopes to recruit many more LGBTQ candidates to run for ANC seats.
The D.C. Board of Elections website shows the deadline for filing 25 required petition signatures to be placed on the ballot is Aug. 5.
A Queering ANCs website launched this week by Capital Stonewall Democrats provides details on how to run for an ANC seat and offers help for those interested in running.
“Think of someone in your building, neighborhood, friend group, community organization, or professional network who cares deeply about D.C. and would make a strong leader,” McCarty says in his statement. “Send them QueeringANCs.org and personally ask them to consider running,” he said.
The website can be accessed at QueeringANCs.org.
District of Columbia
Mary’s House founder, CEO retires
Dr. Imani Woody played leading role in opening DC’s first home for LGBTQ seniors
The board of directors for Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC’s first official home dedicated to providing affordable housing for LGBTQ seniors, announced on July 7 that its founding president and CEO, Dr. Imani Woody, has retired.
Woody, who holds a PhD in Human Services, is credited with playing a leading role over many years in arranging both city and private funding needed to construct and operate the Mary’s House three-story building located at 401 Anacostia Road, S.E., in the city’s Fort Dupont neighborhood.
The house, which opened in March 2025, with a grand opening ceremony held in May 2025, includes 15 single-occupancy residential units and more than 5,000 square feet of shared communal living space.
“It is with profound gratitude and hearts full of celebration that the board of directors of Mary’s House for Older Adults, DC (MHFOA) announces the retirement of our visionary founder, Dr. Imani Woody, from her role as president and CEO,” the Mary’s House board says in a statement.
“Dr. Woody’s journey with Mary’s House began with her vision and a kitchen table gathering of women with a bold, urgent, and loving vision: to create safe, affirming, affordable housing for LGBTQ/SGL older adults in Washington, DC,” the statement says.
It adds, “What started as a dream has grown into DC’s first affordable LGBTQ+/SGL affirming communal living space for adults 60 and over, a 15-room community residence at 401 Anacostia Road in Southeast Washington.”
The statement says Woody will continue to serve on Mary’s House board.
“The board will be sharing information about the leadership transition process in the coming weeks,” the statement continues. “We are committed to honoring Dr. Woody’s legacy by ensuring Mary’s House continues to thrive and grow in faithful service to LGBTQ/SGL elders experiencing housing insecurity and isolation.”
District of Columbia
SMYAL receives $25,000 award for ‘courageous acts’
D.C. group provides support services for LGBTQ youth
The D.C.-based organization SMYAL, which provides services for LGBTQ youth in the D.C. metro area, including housing for homeless LGBTQ youth, announced on June 30 that it received a $25,000 award for its “courageous acts” in support of the community it serves.
The award was a monetary grant from The Courage Project, which describes itself as a “national initiative investing in acts of courage and compassion that strengthens our communities and democracy.”
A statement on its website says it was launched in May 2025 and is funded and backed by leading national foundations in the U.S.
“At SMYAL, we are deeply grateful to receive support from The Courage Project and are inspired by their bold investment in LGBTQ+ youth at such a critical moment,” SMYAL CEO Erin Whelan said in a statement. “For queer and trans young people, simply showing up as themselves each day requires immense courage, and that courage is strengthened when organizations like The Courage Project stand behind them loudly, proudly, and without hesitation,” Whelan said.
In its statement announcing the award SMYAL says The Courage Project will recognize SMYAL and other awardees and their work on July 3 at the Washington National Cathedral as part of a special interfaith service marking the U.S. 250th anniversary.
“The Courage Project is a bold initiative honoring everyday acts of bravery – the quiet, often unseen acts of heroism that reflect the best of the American spirit and strengthen democracy at the community level,” the project states on its website.
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