District of Columbia
D.C. committee documenting Black LGBTQ history in nation’s capital
Effort created by ‘Black LGBTQIA+ History Preservation’ law passed in 2024
In a little-noticed development, the D.C. City Council voted unanimously in June 2024 to pass a law creating a six-member committee to work with the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs “to produce a report on Black LGBTQIA+ history in the District.”
The Black LGBTQIA+ History Preservation Establishment Act of 2024 was signed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and cleared a required review by Congress while generating little public attention.
Council records show that Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only openly gay member, was the lead sponsor of the bill that has now become law and that 11 members of the 13-member Council joined Parker as primary sponsors. The records show that Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) signed on as a co-sponsor.
Parker couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.
The law includes a provision that provides funding for grants that have been issued to three LGBTQ organizations and a local public relations company to take the lead in preparing the report and promoting it in the community.
Among the grant recipients is the Center for Black Equity, a D.C.-based LGBTQ organization that, among other things, organizes Black Pride events in D.C. and other locations.
The other grant recipients working on the report include D.C.’s Rainbow History Project, which documents local LGBTQ events and developments considered historic; the D.C.-based Modern Military Association of America, which advocates on behalf of LGBTQ people serving in the U.S. military; and the local firm Octane Public Relations.
The law approved by the Council calls for the production of a Black LGBTQ+ History Report that it says should include five specific components:
• “The history of the Black Pride Movement in the District and the notable people, places, and events that contribute to the rich history of the national and global queer culture.”
• “An analysis of the unique history of Black Trans people in the District and the contributions they have made to culture, activism, education, and other important spheres of life.”
• “The historical context of the AIDS Crisis, its effects on the Black LGBTQIA+ community in the District, and how policy choices impact the community to 6the present day.”
• “Curriculum recommendations for teaching Black LGBTQIA+ history in public schools in line with the Social Studies Standards or District of Columbia students.’
• “Recommendations on how to promote the report to the public.”
The law also states that the Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the Black LGBTQIA+ History Committee “shall submit the final report to the Mayor, the Council, the District of Columbia Archives, and the D.C. Public Library’s People’s Archives by May 1, 2025.”
Kenya Hutton, President and CEO of the Center for Black Equity, told the Washington Blade that deadline was not met, for the most part, because most of those involved in the project had to devote much of their time to World Pride 2025, which took place ion D.C. from May through early June of this year. Hutton said organizers expect the report to be completed by September of this year.
“Once everything got approved and we started having meetings, the initial meetings, it was just coming up on Pride season,” Hutton said. “So, we kind of just put things on hold until we got through the Pride madness,” he said.
According to Hutton, the Center for Black Equity and the other organizations and individuals working on the project are committed to completing the report soon and fully appreciate its importance.
“Washington, D.C. has always been a heartbeat of Black LGBTQ+ culture, resilience and leadership, yet too often our stories have been overlooked, undocumented, or erased,” he told the Blade.
“The Black LGBTQ+ History Preservation Project is not just about history, it’s about justice,” he said. “It’s about ensuring that our legacy is honored, our impact is seen, and our communities are remembered with the dignity they deserve.”
He added, “As President and CEO of the Center for Black Equity, I am proud to be part of this transformative effort to preserve the fullness of who we are, not just for today, but for generations to come.”
Sloane Betz, Social Media Specialist for Octane Public Relations, said her firm is working on creating a website for the project, among other things, to enable the community to respond to surveys and provide information on what they would like the final report to include.
“It is a place that will serve as a resting place in a hub of all things in Black LGBTQ history,” she said. “So, we’re very excited about the work that we’re doing.”
Gaby Vincent, Public Information Officer for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said the Black LGBTQIA+ History Preservation Committee’s mission is to “preserve, honor, and uplift the contributions and experiences of Black LGBTQIA+ individuals throughout D.C.’s history.”
Vincent said the committee’s plans for carrying out that mission, among other things, will include “hosting panel discussions and storytelling events that uplift the voices of Black LGBTQ+ pioneers and community members, curating physical exhibits, collecting historical artifacts to be featured on a forthcoming public website, and ensuring community voices continue to shape the work thorough open forums, interviews, and collaborative planning with grantee partners.”
Members of the six-member LGBTQIA+ History Committee include:
• Ernest Hopkins, longtime LGBTQ rights advocate and lead organizer of D.C.’s first Black Pride celebration
• Rayceen Pendarvis, organizer of Team Rayceen D.C. entertainment and advocacy online broadcast.
• Valerie Papaya Mann, organizer of Sapphire Sapphos, one of D.C.’s first Black lesbian social political groups.
• A.J. King, director of Intercultural Affairs and the LGBTQ+ Resource Center at Howard University.
• Rev. Brandon Miles Brock, Diversity, Inclusion, and Multicultural Affairs Specialist at the University of the District of Columbia.
• Aaron Myers, executive director of the D.C. Commission On The Arts and Humanities.
District of Columbia
Sold-out crowd turns out for 10th annual Caps Pride night
Gay Men’s Chorus soloist sings National Anthem, draws cheers
A sold-out crowd of 18,347 turned out on Jan. 17 for the 10th annual Pride Night at the Washington Capitals hockey game held at D.C.’s Capital One Arena.
Although LGBTQ Capitals fans were disappointed that the Capitals lost the game to the visiting Florida Panthers, they were treated to a night of celebration with Pride-related videos showing supportive Capitals players and fans projected on the arena’s giant video screen throughout the game.
The game began when Dana Nearing, a member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, sang the National Anthem, drawing applause from all attendees.
The event also served as a fundraiser for the LGBTQ groups Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services to homeless LGBTQ youth, and You Can Play, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing LGBTQ inclusion in sports.
“Amid the queer community’s growing love affair with hockey, I’m incredibly honored and proud to see our hometown Capitals continue to celebrate queer joy in such a visible and meaningful way,” said Alston Foundation Executive Director Cesar Toledo.
Capitals spokesperson Nick Grossman said a fundraising raffle held during the game raised $14,760 for You Can Play. He said a fundraising auction for the Alston Foundation organized by the Capitals and its related Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundation would continue until Thursday, Jan. 22
A statement on the Capitals website says among the items being sold in the auction were autographed Capitals player hockey sticks with rainbow-colored Pride tape wrapped around them, which Capitals players used in their pre-game practice on the ice.
Although several hundred people turned out for a pre-game Pride “block party” at the District E restaurant and bar located next to the Capital One Arena, it couldn’t immediately be determined how many Pride night special tickets for the game were sold.
“While we don’t disclose specific figures related to special ticket offers, we were proud to host our 10th Pride night and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community,” Capitals spokesperson Grossman told the Washington Blade.
District of Columbia
D.C.’s annual MLK Peace Walk and Parade set for Jan. 19
LGBTQ participants expected to join mayor’s contingent
Similar to past years, members of the LGBTQ community were expected to participate in D.C.’s 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace Walk and Parade scheduled to take place Monday, Jan. 19.
Organizers announced this year’s Peace Walk, which takes place ahead of the parade, was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the site of a Peace Rally set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Firth Sterling Avenue and Sumner Road, S.E., a short distance from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
The Peace Walk and the parade, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the same location, will each travel along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue a little over a half mile to Marion Barry Avenue near the 11th Street Bridge where they will end.
Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said he and members of his staff would be marching in the parade as part of the mayor’s parade contingent. In past years, LGBTQ community members have also joined the mayor’s parade contingent.
Stuart Anderson, one of the MLK Day parade organizers, said he was not aware of any specific LGBTQ organizations that had signed up as a parade contingent for this year’s parade. LGBTQ group contingents have joined the parade in past years.
Denise Rolark Barnes, one of the lead D.C. MLK Day event organizers, said LGBTQ participants often join parade contingents associated with other organizations.
Barnes said a Health and Wellness Fair was scheduled to take place on the day of the parade along the parade route in a PNC Bank parking lot at 2031 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., S.E.
A statement on the D.C. MLK Day website describes the parade’s history and impact on the community.
“Established to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the parade united residents of Ward 8, the District, and the entire region in the national movement to make Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday,” the statement says. “Today, the parade not only celebrates its historic roots but also promotes peace and non-violence, spotlights organizations that serve the community, and showcases the talent and pride of school-aged children performing for family, friends, and community members.”
District of Columbia
Ruby Corado sentenced to 33 months in prison
Former Casa Ruby director pleaded guilty to wire fraud in 2024
A federal judge on Jan. 13 sentenced Ruby Corado, the founder and former executive director of the now closed D.C. LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby, to 33 months of incarceration for a charge of wire fraud to which she pleaded guilty in July 2024.
U.S. District Court Judge Trevor M. McFadden handed down the sentence that had been requested by prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia after Corado’s sentencing had been postponed six times for various reasons.
The judge also sentenced her to 24 months of supervised release upon her completion of incarceration.
In addition to the sentence of incarceration, McFadden agreed to a request by prosecutors to hold Corado responsible for “restitution” and “forfeiture” in the amount of $956,215 that prosecutors have said she illegally misappropriated from federal loans obtained by Casa Ruby.
The charge to which she pleaded guilty is based on allegations that she diverted at least $180,000 “in taxpayer backed emergency COVID relief funds to private offshore bank accounts,” according to court documents.
Court records show FBI agents arrested Corado on March 5, 2024, at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador, where authorities say she moved in 2022. Prosecutors have said in charging documents that she allegedly fled to El Salvador, where she was born, after “financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public,” and the LGBTQ organization ceased operating.
Shortly after her arrest, another judge agreed to release Corado into the custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order. But at an Oct. 14, 2025, court hearing at which the sentencing was postponed after Corado’s court appointed attorney withdrew from the case, McFadden ordered Corado to be held in jail until the time of her once again rescheduled sentencing.
Her attorney at the time, Elizabeth Mullin, stated in a court motion that her reason for withdrawing from the case was an “irreconcilable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship.”
Corado’s newly retained attorney, Pleasant Brodnax, filed a 25-page defense Memorandum in Aid of Sentencing on Jan. 6, calling for the judge to sentence Corado only to the time she had already served in detention since October.
Among other things, Brodnax’s defense memorandum disputes the claim by prosecutors that Corado improperly diverted as much as $956,215 from federally backed loans to Casa Ruby, saying the total amount Corado diverted was $200,000. Her memo also states that Corado diverted the funds to a bank account in El Salvador for the purpose of opening a Casa Ruby facility there, not to be used for her personally.
“Ms. Corado has accepted responsibility for transferring a portion of the loan disbursements into another account she operated and ultimately transferring a portion of the loan disbursements to an account in El Salvador,” the memo continues.
“Her purpose in transferring funds to El Salvador was to fund Casa Ruby programs in El Salvador,” it says, adding, “Of course, she acknowledges that the terms of the loan agreement did not permit her to transfer the funds to El Salvador for any purpose.”
In his own 16-page sentencing recommendation memo, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Borchert, the lead prosecutor in the case, said Corado’s action amounted at the least to fraud.
“The defendant and Casa Ruby received no less than $1.2 million in taxpayer backed funds during the COVID-19 global health crisis,” he memo states. “But rather than use those funds to support Casa Ruby’s mission as the defendant promised, the defendant further contributed to its demise by unlawfully transferring no less than $180,000 of these federal emergency relief funds into her own private offshore bank accounts,” it says.
“Then, when media reports suggested the defendant would be prosecuted for squandering Casa Ruby’s government funding, she sold her home and fled the country,” the memo states. “Meanwhile, the people who she had promised to pay with taxpayer-backed funds – her employees, landlord, and vendors – were left behind flat broke.”
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office and Corado’s attorney didn’t immediately respond to a request from the Washington Blade for comment on the judge’s sentence.
“Ms. Corado accepts full responsibility for her actions in this case,” defense attorney Brodnax says in her sentencing memo. “She acknowledges the false statements made in the loan applications and that she used some of the money outside the United States,” it says.
“However, the money was still utilized for the same purpose and intention as the funds used in the United States, to assist the LGBTQ community,” it states. “Ms. Corado did not use the money to buy lavish goods or fund a lavish lifestyle.”
Brodnax also states in her memo that as a transgender woman, Corado could face abuse and danger in a correctional facility where she may be sent if sentenced to incarceration.
“Ruby Corado committed a crime, she is now paying the price,” said D.C. LGBTQ rights advocate Peter Rosenstein. “While it is sad in many ways, we must remember she hurt the transgender community with what she did, and in many ways they all paid for her crime.”
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