Local
Gay Discovery hostage shares story
Former Blade staffer on how life has changed since terrifying standoff
Chris Wood in a December, 2008 Blade staff photo outtake. (Blade file photo by Henry Linser)
A gay man who was one of three hostages held at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Md., on Sept. 1 used hand signals to initiate his and a fellow hostage’s escape seconds before police shot and killed a gunman who threatened to blow up the building.
Christopher B. Wood, 25, a former Washington Blade employee who works as a marketing specialist with Discovery Communications, gave a harrowing account of his four-hour ordeal in captivity at the hands of a disturbed gunman that has attracted national media coverage.
Seconds after Wood and Discovery Channel producer Jim McNulty ran for the exit door in a plan orchestrated by hand signals between Wood, McNulty, and a security guard who was also held hostage, members of a police swat team shot and killed the gunman, James Lee.
Authorities described Lee as a disturbed “environmental extremist” who believed the Discovery Channel was broadcasting harmful programs that would worsen global warming and other environmental problems.
In an interview with the Blade, Wood explained how he was able to clandestinely respond to a text message that a co-worker sent him from outside the building. Wood said the text message came at a time when he believed he would likely die at the hands of the gunman, who had explosives strapped to his body.
“Please tell Mark I love him,” Wood told co-worker Carlos Gutierrez in a text message referring to Wood’s partner.
About two hours later, while thinking of his partner Mark and other loved ones while being forced to lie face down on a marble floor in the Discovery building’s lobby, Wood said his fright and anxiety began to change to anger.
“I started to think in my head…no, this is not the way this is going to end,” he told the Blade in discussing his thoughts of a plan to escape. “I’m not going to die here on the floor. I’m not going to let somebody take over my life and tell me when I’m going to die.”
According to Wood and accounts by authorities, both Wood and fellow hostage McNulty walked into the Discovery building lobby shortly after returning from their lunch break about 1 p.m. on Sept. 1. McNulty said he saw Lee pointing his gun at the building’s lobby security guard and initially thought the two were actors participating in the filming of a movie until Lee pointed the gun at him and ordered him to lie face down on the floor.
Wood said he first noticed McNulty lying on the floor when he entered the lobby minutes later and thought McNulty was ill and wondered why someone wasn’t helping him. Before he could take more than a few steps, Wood said Lee pointed the gun at him and ordered him to lie on the floor.
During their four hours in captivity, Lee forced Wood and McNulty to remain on the floor except for times when he ordered them to stand and answer his questions about the plight of the earth, Wood said. Wood said the security guard remained at a desk where there was a phone that police hostage negotiators used to talk to Lee on and off throughout his stay in the building’s lobby.
Wood said he sized up Lee’s state of mind after hearing him talk to the negotiators through a speakerphone, where both parties could be heard.
“[T]he negotiator was asking how the hostages were,” said Wood. “And he kept saying, ‘I don’t care about these hostages. I don’t care if they die. I don’t care about them. I just care about what I want…If I blow up it will take all of them with me.”
Wood said that Lee “ranted” at McNulty after asking McNulty if he had kids. When McNulty told him he had two children Lee shouted that having children contributes to overpopulation, which is destroying the natural environment, according to an account by McNulty in media interviews.
When Lee called Wood over to the guard’s desk to question him, Wood said he had determined he would try to say as little as possible to avoid antagonizing Lee.
“So the gunman [said], ‘Stand up, you stand up. Put your hands on the desk,’” Wood said. “I walked up over to the desk, put my hands on the desk. And he [said], ‘He looks fine. Look at him, young, healthy.’”
From that point on, Wood said, Lee allowed him and McNulty to remain standing. It was at that time that Wood noticed the guard making subtle gestures that Wood thought suggested that he and McNulty should attempt to “make a run for it.”
“I looked at the guard,” said Wood. “I finally got his attention and I mouthed the word ‘run.’ And he shook his head yes. And so I then turned my body trying to get Jim’s attention.”
After what seemed like an eternity, Wood said, McNulty looked toward him “and I mouthed the word ‘run.’ He shook his head yes.”
Wood said he then began counting down with his fingers to McNulty with his body turned so that Lee could not see his fingers counting down from three to one, when the two would bolt for the door.
“And as soon as the gunman looked down toward the negotiator [on a speaker phone] I dropped my arms and ran to the same door that I came in,” he said, noting that he heard the sound of a “pop.”
Although he did not witness it, Wood learned later the sound he heard was the first of several shots fired by the Montgomery County police swat team. Police said members of the swat team, who entered the building earlier and were ready to rush into the lobby, shot Lee several times, killing him instantly.
“I’m not sure what the next chapter holds,” Wood said. But I will say that I have a whole new perspective on life. I went from dying and thinking I was dead to making a decision to live, making the decision to be the one that got us out of there safely and ran and made the initial stand. And my life will never be the same.”
A transcript of the Blade’s interview with Wood follows:
Washington Blade: Can you describe how it happened that you walked into this hostage situation on Sept. 1 at the Discovery Channel headquarters in Silver Spring, Md.?
Chris Wood: I had my one o’clock and my noon [meetings] cancelled so I decided I was going to go out and grab a quick lunch. And I did right in downtown Silver Spring. I was walking back to the lobby taking my iPod headphones out of my ears, putting everything into my hands getting ready to walk into the lobby. I walked into the first door — it’s double doors. I opened the first door and started walking in and realized somebody was laying face first on the ground. And I looked to the left and I noticed a bag that I guess belonged to an individual and I recognized the bag was my co-worker Jim McNulty. And I looked back at the person laying face first on the ground and I put it together that it was Jim laying on the ground and that was his bag. By this point I’m reaching for the second door and basically looking up toward my left toward the reception desk trying to see why isn’t anyone helping him? What’s going on? And as I’m looking up to the left the gunman is wielding the gun at me saying, ‘Get on the ground, get on the ground.’ This was while I was walking into that second door. And I immediately switched everything from my left hand to my right hand — my iPod and my Blackberry and went down to the ground on the cold marble.
Blade: And this was in this very expansive lobby of the Discovery Channel headquarters?
Wood: Yes it is.
Blade: After that initial command, did the gunman say anything to you?
Wood: No. At this point he had gone back to the guard and he was continuing to assemble the device that was strapped to him. And as I was on the ground, I was looking up to the left looking at him and the guard and what was going on. Eventually, my phone kept going off in my right hand. I kept trying to answer it but I wasn’t looking at my phone. My head was to the left paying attention to the gunman and the other two hostages and I kept trying to answer it and answer it every time it rang or buzzed and eventually he asked Jim to get up. Jim got up and he was asking him questions.
The NBC reporter had called in that time [to the guard desk]. He was the first phone call in. The gunman eventually thought that that NBC reporter was a cop and ended up hanging up on him. But while he was asking Jim questions, Jim became in between the site of the gunman and I so the gunman could not look over and see me. I took my phone out of my right hand and switched it over to my left hand above my head while still lying on the floor. And the first thing I did was saw that my boss had called and I called the number back. Whoever was on the other end of that phone listened for two minutes and hung up.
And then I looked at my e-mail and saw that my boss wrote me an e-mail that said, “Are you O.K?” And I wrote back and said I’m a hostage with Jim McNulty and the guard in the lobby. And then I had two more text messages come in, one from a friend that works at Discovery. I texted him back and said I’m a hostage in the lobby. And my second text message to him was please tell Mark I love him. Mark is my partner.
… So I sent out the phone call and two text messages and at that point the gunman had finished his conversation with Jim and told Jim to get on the ground. And eventually he asked me to get up and walk over to the desk.
He asked me an array of questions. The first thing he said to me was you look like a strong man. And then he said, “What do you do here?” And I lied and I said I’m admin. And he said, “Admin, what is admin? What do you do?” And I said I file papers. Obviously, I lied. I didn’t want him to know what I did. I didn’t want him to know that I worked for a particular channel. I didn’t want him to know that I worked in the marketing department because of the way he was going on and ranting off and on with the negotiator and the NBC reporter that I heard earlier. And then he asked me, “Are you in the military?” I said no. He’s like, “Look me in the eyes when I talk to you. I looked at him twice and answered two of those questions. He said, “Do you plan on having kids?” I said no. And he’s like, “Can you promise me you’ll never have kids?”And I said yes. Basically just giving him any answer that would get him to leave me alone and satisfy what he was asking.
Blade: Did he ask you if you were married?
Wood: No he did not … Eventually by giving him one-word answers he’s like, “I’m bored with you. Go lay back down.” So I started to walk back towards my stuff. He’s like, “Right there on the ground.” I laid down first and he said, “Turn around the other way so I can see you.” So I laid down the other way and he asked Jim to get up at that point. It was about three o’clock. Jim stood up. He continued to have a lot of questions for Jim, asking him about his kids, about his family, about what he did and ranting back and forth with the negotiators. You know, getting really annoyed at the negotiators. So eventually I was laying there and my arms and hands started to fall asleep and went through a range of emotions when I went down to the ground for the second time. I was really upset when I laid back down. I was crying.
In my mind I was thinking this is the end, this is the end of my life. This is what my life has come to. I got really upset and started to get really mad. And the fact that somebody could take this power away from me and he’s going to decide when I lose my life. I started to thinking in my head. I’m like, “No this is not the way this is going to end. I’m not going to die here on the floor. I’m not going to let somebody take over my life and tell me when I’m going to die.” My arms at that time started to fall asleep on the cold marble floor. So I started moving my hands just trying to get them to wake up …
I guess I had been lying there for quite a while. And the gunman was on the phone with the negotiators and the negotiator was asking how the hostages were. And he kept saying “I don’t care about these hostages. I don’t care if they die. I don’t care about them. I just care about what I want. You have my demands. I want this done and I don’t care if they die. If I blow up it will take all of them with me.” And the guard said he hasn’t moved in a while and he pointed at me on the floor. So the gunman was like, “Stand up, you stand up. Put your hands on the desk.” I walked up over to the desk and put my hands on the desk. And he’s like, “He looks fine. Look at him, young, healthy.” And he went back to talking to the negotiators. I eventually let my hands slowly slip off the desk. We were able to move about freely quite a bit. My legs were hurting, my back was hurting.
Blade: You mean at that time he allowed you to walk around in the lobby?
Wood: Not walk around — we were staying in place but I could move my arms, I could fold my arms. I could scratch my face. He wasn’t restricting our movement in our place. So I started watching the guard standing behind the desk … the gunman was there talking on the speaker phone with the negotiators. The guard is behind the desk. Jim and I were off kind of in front of the desk but toward the right hand side. I looked at the guard and he’s making hand signals — not looking at me, making like taking two fingers and wiggling them like legs and I couldn’t figure it out and I finally just got it in my head that this is the opportunity to run, this is our chance to run. He’s on the phone with the negotiator. We can make it. We can do this. I looked at the guard. I finally got his attention and I mouthed the word “Run.”And he shook his head yes. And so I then turned my body trying to get Jim’s attention. Jim had no idea it was me until I stood up next to him that last and final time. It was about four o’clock. It was about an hour before the incident ended.
Blade: At the time you were thinking about making a run for it, were you and Jim both standing at that moment?
Wood: Yes. Jim, myself and the guard were standing.
Blade: How long were you standing?
Wood: For the last hour we were standing … So Jim finally looked over at me and I mouthed the word “Run.” He shook his head yes. I crossed my arms and took my left hand it tucked it underneath my right arm so that the gunman couldn’t see my fingers but Jim could. And I held up three fingers. And I started to put one down in a countdown but got nervous because the gunman looked at me. I put it back up and then he looked away and I started counting down again. I put one finger down and I put the next finger down and I put the final finger down and I froze. I looked at Jim, I looked at the gunman and the gunman was looking right at me. And as soon as the gunman looked down toward the negotiator I dropped my arms and ran to the same door that I came in. I hit that first door with my right palm. I hit the second door with my right hand palm. In between the first door and the second door I heard a pop. I didn’t know what it was. And I went out, straight out around a pole that was probably 10 feet wide or so or eight feet wide. And as I was rounding the corner there were like five police officers …
… I’m not sure what the next chapter holds. But I will say that I have a whole new perspective on life. I went from dying and thinking I was dead to making a decision to live, making the decision to be the one that got us out of there safely and ran and made the initial stand. And my life will never be the same.
Blade: Do you eventually think you will go back to work at the Discovery Channel?
Wood: I would like to. At this time I just don’t know when.
Blade: Are you on some form of leave from work?
Wood: They’re just providing assistance and providing everything to me —everything that I need. They have not — my job is there and that still stands. But other than that I really can’t comment on much of how they’re proceeding with everything.
Blade: What is your official title there and what have you being doing?
Wood: I’m a marketing specialist for TLC Strategic Marketing.
Blade: Can you remind me the time period you were with the Blade?
Wood: August 2009 was when I was laid off. And I came in December of 2007.
Blade: And were you also a marketing person?
Wood: Yes, I was marketing manager….
Blade: Was Lee, the hostage taker, interrogating Jim McNulty before you about things like his having kids and things like that?
Wood: Yes, he interrogated him first because Jim stood up first and then he laid him back down and got me up and interrogated me.
Blade: Did you have any thoughts about how he would react if he knew you were gay?
Wood: I didn’t know how he would react but I most certainly wasn’t going to antagonize him or bring it up if he didn’t bring it up.
Blade: Do you have any other thoughts that might be important that I didn’t ask about?
Wood: It’s just the support from the community, from friends, from the Discovery Channel — it’s all been amazing and overwhelming. It really makes me think about life and how not to take it for granted. A lot of people take life for granted and you just really can’t because you never know what’s going to happen.
Blade: Has the support come through calls, e-mails and on Facebook — things like that?
Wood: I kept myself very sheltered. The media was very overwhelming and so I didn’t have a phone for a week because it became part of the investigation. I had left it on the floor and didn’t have a phone for a week. And everybody was communicating through friends. I wouldn’t log onto Facebook. I wouldn’t go anywhere. Now it’s starting to become e-mail and phone but for about a week — a week and a half I wouldn’t communicate with anybody.
Blade: Have you had a chance to go out at all to the clubs or anywhere else?
Wood: I have not gone out at all.
Blade: You want to wait until you’re ready to do that?
Wood: I wanted to do the media because I want to explain the story a couple of times. I don’t want to explain it 3,000 times.
District of Columbia
D.C. Council approves expanded grant funding for Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs
Measure introduced by Zachary Parker faces second vote
The D.C. Council on June 9 gave its first round of approval to an amendment to the city’s fiscal year 2027 budget that calls for increasing the number and size of funding grants that the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs provides for local organizations providing services for the LGBTQ community.
The amendment, titled the “LGBTQ Community Grant Amendment Act of 2026,” was introduced by D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member.
The amendment calls for the LGBTQ Affairs office to issue a $980,000 grant in fiscal year 2027 to a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with the office “for the purpose of supporting programs that promote the welfare of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning community.”
The organization would also initiate its own fundraising effort to expand the amount of funds beyond the amount the office would provide, enabling it to provide larger grants to a greater number of local LGBTQ organizations.
Among other things, the amendment says the organization chosen for this new role should have a “proven track record of success in grant making and fundraising” and agree to undergo an annual audit and submit quarterly reports to the office on its use of the funds it receives.
Under its rules for approving legislation, the Council must hold the second vote on the budget bill with the Parker amendment before it is sent to Mayor Muriel Bowser for her signature. It must then go to Congress for a congressional review that does not require approval, but could result in a vote to disapprove the measure, an action Congress usually does not take.
In a June 12 statement, the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition called the D.C. Council’s initial approval of the Parker amendment, “a historic measure that establishes the District’s most sustainable model for a vehicle for investing in LGBTQ communities.”
The statement adds, “The legislation arrives at a critical moment, as LGBTQ-serving organizations face unprecedented uncertainty. Growing demand for services is colliding with shrinking resources, federal attacks on LGBTQ programs, and ongoing threats to local funding streams.”
It says the new program that the Parker amendment would create, if it reaches final approval, “creates a durable mechanism to protect and expand investments in the organizations that thousands of District residents rely upon every day.”
A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said he was looking into the mayor’s position on the Parker amendment but didn’t immediately get back with a response.
Virginia
Gay 1920s-era Hollywood star to be honored in Staunton, Va.
Billy Haines became acclaimed designer after anti-gay policies ended his acting career
A project is underway in Staunton, Va., to honor William ‘Billy’ Haines, who was born and raised in Staunton before becoming an out gay 1920s and early 1930s-era Hollywood movie star whose acting career ended around 1934 when he refused demands that he conceal his sexual orientation and end his relationship with his male partner.
Haines left the movie business around that time to start what became a highly successful interior design and furniture business in Los Angeles that he led until his death in 1972 at age 72, and which remains in business today, according to the Arcadia Project, a Staunton-based nonprofit initiative.
In a statement released last month, Arcadia Project announced it is working to revitalize a long-vacant movie theater in downtown Staunton that it plans to rename after Haines. It says a fundraising campaign is under way to support efforts to reopen the theater and the larger building in which it is housed as a “dynamic mixed-use cultural center.”
The statement notes that Haines left Staunton at age 14 and resided in Hopewell, Va., and Greenwich Village in New York City until 1922, when he was “discovered” by a talent scout and sent to Hollywood.
“Between 1922 and 1934, Haines appeared in 54 movies during his meteoric and highly successful career,” the Arcadia Project statement continues, noting he transitioned from silent movies to talkies and was fully open about being gay. “But when Hollywood’s moral crackdown of the 1930s demanded that he end his relationship with his longtime partner Jimmie Shields, Haines refused,” it says.
“For LGBTQ people – then and now – Haines’s choice resonates deeply. Rather than deny who he was, he reinvented himself as an interior designer to the stars,” according to the statement.
It says he helped invent the so-called Hollywood Regency style home and designed homes for Hollywood legends such as Joan Crawford, Gloria Swanson, Carole Lombard, George Cukor, and Jack Warner as well as for political figures like Ronald Reagan when he was governor of California.
“As there is no monument, marker or public recognition for Haines in his hometown of Staunton, Va., Arcadia Project, in collaboration with the LGBTQ+ community in Staunton seeks to commemorate him inside a new cultural center,” the statement says.
It quotes Arcadia Project Executive Director Pamela Mason Wagner as saying, “Naming the movie theater in Haines’ honor is more than an act of historical recognition – it is a powerful statement about visibility, belonging, and whose stories are valued in our community.”
The statement says project leaders hope to open the cultural center in early 2027, with a fundraising campaign seeking to raise $250,000 to renovate the theater.
“If the full goal is not reached, a smaller space within the building will be named for Haines, scaled to the amount of funds raised,” it says. “We truly hope friends and admirers of Billy Haines everywhere will want to participate.”
Donations for the project can be made through this site: www.thearcadiaproject.org
District of Columbia
Your queer D.C. voting guide
June 16 primary nears; Lewis George, McDuffie lead in polling for mayor
LGBTQ voters in the nation’s capital are choosing among a long list of LGBTQ supportive candidates running for mayor, D.C. City Council, and the position of D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives in the city’s June 16 primary election.
LGBTQ activists who have spoken to the Washington Blade appear to be divided in their support for the two leading Democratic candidates for mayor – D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and former D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large) in a seven-candidate race.
Among the other five Democratic mayoral candidates is Rini Sampath, a cyber security consultant who told the Blade she identifies as queer.
“We’re living in an extremely diverse community, an extremely unique community,” she told the Blade. “And being able to self-label, self-identify as queer is something that I just want to take pride in.”
But a poll conducted by the Washington Post and George Mason University’s School of Policy and Government released on June 5 shows Sampath receiving just 3 percent in a sample of likely voters in the D.C. Democratic primary.
The poll, conducted from May 27-June 1, shows Lewis George leading in the mayoral primary with 36 percent compared to McDuffie, who had 25 percent. However, 25 percent of those polled were undecided in the mayoral race, according to the Post, indicating at least some of the undecided voters could go to McDuffie.
“Undecided voters are concentrated among groups that lean toward McDuffie, including moderates, Black voters and those ages 65 and older,” the Post story reporting on the poll states.
Another factor making it more difficult to predict the election outcome is the start in this year’s D.C. primary of ranked choice voting, which enables voters to select as many as five candidates on their ballot as their first through fifth choice depending on how many candidates are running for a specific office, including the office of mayor.
The ranked choice process takes effect if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote in a race with three or more candidates and serves as an instant run-off using voters’ second-choice or third or more choice votes until one candidate receives 50 percent of the vote.
In what appears to support the belief of many local political observers that Lewis George and McDuffie are the two leading mayoral candidates, the poll shows the remaining candidates receiving less than 5 percent.
They include former D.C. Council member Vincent Orange with 4 percent, local real estate manager and developer Gary Goodweather with 3 percent, and former U.S. Department of Homeland Security contractor Hope Solomon and real estate broker and Ward 1 community activist Ernest Johnson each receiving 1 percent.
Goodweather, a political newcomer, has attended LGBTQ events in his mayoral campaign and has expressed strong support on LGBTQ issues.
With that as a backdrop, the Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest LGBTQ political group, has endorsed Lewis George for mayor and GLAA DC, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, awarded Lewis George its highest candidate rating score of +10.
GLAA said it did not issue a rating for McDuffie because his campaign did not return a GLAA candidate questionnaire on which it bases its ratings. A spokesperson for the McDuffie campaign said campaign workers later discovered the questionnaire landed in the spam folder of their email account and McDuffie would have returned it had he received it.
At GLAA’s invitation, McDuffie completed the questionnaire and GLAA has posted it with its full responses to a list of 10 questions on the GLAA website along with the questionnaire responses from other candidates, including Lewis George. Like Lewis George, McDuffie expressed strong support for a wide range of LGBTQ issues in his responses, but GLAA said it could not issue a rating for him due to the missed deadline for submitting the questionnaire.
According to GLAA, just two other mayoral candidates returned the questionnaire and received a rating. Sampath received a +6.5 rating, and Johnson received a rating of +4.5. Under the GLAA rating system, a -10 is the lowest possible rating, with a +10 being the highest.
D.C. Board of Elections records show that no Republican candidate is running for mayor and one Statehood Green Party candidate – Robert L. Gross – is running unopposed on the primary ballot for voters registered as Statehood Green Party members. GLAA’s website shows Gross did not receive a rating under the group’s policy of not rating candidates that do not return the questionnaire.
The Statehood Green Party and its candidates for local D.C. offices have historically been supportive of LGBTQ rights.
LGBTQ activists who are backing Lewis George or McDuffie appear to be gravitating to the two based on their political leadings separate from LGBTQ issues, just like voters in general. Lewis George, who identifies as a Democratic Socialist, is popular among progressive voters.
McDuffie, who is seen as a more moderate candidate like current D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, is being supported by LGBTQ activists who hold those views, some of whom currently work in the Bowser administration.
Among Lewis George’s LGBTQ supporters are longtime Ward 8 community leader Phillip Pannell and former Capital Stonewall Democrats President Howard Garrett. Among the LGBTQ McDuffie backers are longtime D.C. Democratic activists John Fanning and David Meadows.
“The rights of LGBTQ residents in our country are under attack,” Pannell told the Blade. “We need a mayor of our nation’s capital who will be a progressive voice and force in standing up for our rights and advancing the quality of life for our community,” he said. “That is one of the reasons I enthusiastically support Janeese Lewis George for mayor.”
Fanning, a member of the staff of D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), said he has observed McDuffie’s work on the Council firsthand. “He has been out and upfront on many of our issues and he has been an ally to our community,” Fanning said. “And I feel more comfortable with his judgements when it comes to city policy,” Fanning said, adding, “And I sense he has more of a pulse on how to grow our economy.”
In the race for D.C. Delegate to the U.S. House, five Democrats are competing in the June 16 primary, including D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Robert White (D-At-Large). Pinto and White have been outspoken supporters of the LGBTQ community. Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed White.
Also running as Democrats for the congressional seat are community activists Kinney Zalesne, Trent Holbrook, and Greg Jaczko, who have expressed support for LGBTQ issues at candidate forums. Denise Rosado is running unopposed for the congressional seat as a Republican, and Kymone Freeman is running unopposed as a Statehood Green Party candidate in the primary.
Under D.C.’s “closed” primary system voters can only vote for a candidate for a specific political party if they are registered members of that party in the primary. In the general election in November, voters can vote for any candidate regardless of party affiliation.
GLAA has said it does not issue candidate ratings for the D.C. Delegate position, which has been held for many years by Democratic incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton, who announced earlier this year that she is retiring and not running for re-election. Norton has been a longtime outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter.
D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), also a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, is running unopposed for re-election in the Democratic primary, He received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +6.5 rating from GLAA.
Nine Democrats are running for the At-Large D.C. Council seat currently held by Bonds, who is also retiring and not running for re-election. Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed local pharmacist, community activist, and LGBTQ ally Oye Owolewa, who received a +9 rating from GLAA.
The other Democrats running for the at-large seat who received a rating from GLAA include Lisa Raymond, +7.5; Dwight Davis, +6.5; Dyana Forester, +6; and Fred Hill, +5.5.
Board of Elections ballot records show that Darrell Green is running unopposed for the at-large seat in the Republican Primary and Darryl Moch is running unopposed in the primary as a Statehood Green Party candidate.
In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, five LGBTQ supportive candidates are competing in the Democratic primary, including two LGBTQ candidates – gay rights activist Miguel Trindade Deramo and bi candidate Aparna Raj. The Ward 1 seat became vacant when incumbent Democrat Brianne Nadeau announced she was not running for re-election.
Capital Stonewall Democrats announced it did not make an endorsement in the Ward 1 race because the endorsement vote by its members was divided and none of the candidates received a required 60 percent of the vote for an endorsement.
GLAA awarded its highest +10 rating to both Deramo and Raj as well as to Ward 1 Democratic candidate Rashida Brown. It assigned a rating of +5.5 to candidate Terry Lynch but did not issue a rating for the fifth Democratic candidate – Jackie Reyes Yanes, who did not return the GLAA questionnaire.
The group didn’t issue ratings for Ward 1 Republican candidate Jett James Jasper or Statehood Green Party candidate Jude Cranniitch, both of whom are running unopposed. GLAA has said it sent out its questionnaire to all candidates listed by the Board of Elections to be placed on the ballot and does not rate those who do not return the questionnaire.
In the Ward 3 D.C. Council race, incumbent Council member Matthew Fruman (D), also an outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter, is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, with no GOP or Statehood Green Party candidate running in the primary. Fruman received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement but was not rated by GLAA.
In the Ward 5 Council race, incumbent Zachary Parker, the Council’s only gay member, is being challenged by two Democrats in the primary – community activists Bernita Carmichael and Bridget French. Parker received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +7 rating from GLAA. Carmichael and French did not receive a GLAA rating.
Political observers in the ward believe Parker is the favorite to win the primary as well as the general election in November, when he will be challenged by Republican Jeffrey Kihien-Palza and Statehood Green Party candidate Joyce Robinson-Paul, who are running unopposed in their party primaries on June 16.
In Ward 6, incumbent Council member Charles Allen (D). a longtime LGBTQ rights supporter, received the Capital Stonewall Democrats endorsement and a +6.75 rating from GLAA. He is being challenged in the primary by Democrats Gloria Ann Nauden and Michael Murphy. Ward 6 political observers consider Allen the strong favorite to win the primary and the general election, when he will be challenged by Republican Jorge Rice, who is running unopposed in the GOP primary. No Statehood Green Party candidate is running for the Ward 6 Council seat.
Capital Stonewall Democrats did not make an endorsement for the D.C. Council special election for the At-Large Council seat that became vacant when then-independent Council member McDuffie resigned to enable him to run for mayor as a Democrat. Under the city’s Home Rule Charter adopted by Congress, that At-Large seat is restricted to a “non-majority party” candidate, meaning a non-Democrat.
The three candidates running for the seat, all independents, include incumbent Doni Crawford, who was temporarily appointed to the seat earlier this year; former D.C. Council member Elisa Silverman; and Jacque Patterson, president of the D.C. Board of Education. All three have expressed support for LGBTQ issues. GLAA issued a +6.5 rating for Crawford and a +5.75 rating for Silverman.
In the race for D.C. Attorney General, Capital Stonewall Democrats has endorsed incumbent Brian Schwalb, who is an outspoken LGBTQ rights supporter. He is being challenged in the Democratic primary by D.C. attorney and law firm partner J.P. Szymkowicz, who is a Ward 3 Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
Attorney and local law firm partner Manuel Rivera is running unopposed for the Attorney General office in the Republican primary. No Statehood Green Party candidate is running for the AG post. GLAA issued a rating of +4.5 for Rivera but did not issue ratings for Schwalb or Szymkowicz.
Finally, in the race for the so-called “shadow” D.C. U.S. Senator and D.C. U.S. Representative—offices with no voting or official authority in Congress that were created to lobby Congress on behalf of D.C. issues—Capital Stonewall Democrats did not make an endorsement. In the Democratic primary Paul Strauss is running unopposed for the shadow U.S. Senate seat and Franklin Garcia is running unopposed for the shadow U.S. House seat. Both have been LGBTQ rights supporters.
No Republican or Statehood Green Party candidates are running for either of the two “shadow” positions. GLAA does not issue ratings for the two positions.
Following are short excerpts from the detailed statements four of the seven Democratic mayoral candidates submitted to the Capital Stonewall Democrats or the Washington Blade.
Kenyan McDuffie: “As mayor, every piece of legislation I sign, craft, or endorse should also encompass the interest and input of the LGBTQ community members and advocates…From housing to health care and everything in between… We have a dire crisis regarding the rise in homelessness especially among the youth in our LGBTQ communities. In my administration that simply cannot be the status quo and will not be…I have been a consistent champion for our LGBTQ community and will remain so as mayor of D.C.”
Janeese Lewis George: “As mayor, I will protect our LGBTQ+ neighbors against federal attacks on their identity, including their health care…On the Council I have been a strong supporter of pro-LGBTQ+ bills, including making D.C. a sanctuary for people seeking gender-affirming health care as well as addressing discrimination and harassment in nightlife and hospitality…And as mayor, I am prepared to move up and win those fights – a fight for D.C. statehood, a fight for our true economy, and a real opportunity to uplift our Black queer and trans youth.”
Gary Goodweather: “A Goodweather administration will defend every D.C. law protecting LGBTQ residents. I will establish a Defend DC office to coordinate the District’s legal and public response to federal overreach, with LGBTQ+ protections explicitly within its mandate…My affordable D.C. plan will produce 50,000 new homes with 36,000 affordable units, and I will ensure LGBTQ+ youth housing programs are funded as a budget priority.”
Rini Sampath: “I am an immigrant, proud queer woman, and a 10-year resident of Washington, D.C…For me, LGBTQ+ voters including transgender and nonbinary residents, are not a separate or symbolic constituency; they are a core part of a broader, multiracial, cross-ward coalition rooted in equity and opportunity.”
Vincent Orange: “I have a long and consistent record of supporting LGBTQ+ equality and inclusion in the District of Columbia, grounded in both policy and personal commitment. As the District’s Democratic Committeeman from 2006 to 2015, I publicly supported marriage equality and voted accordingly … During my time on the D.C. Council, I worked to advance protections for LGBTQ+ residents, including authoring and passing legislation to prohibit discrimination against transgender individuals in the workplace.”
15 LGBTQ candidates running for Democratic State Committee
At least 15 known LGBTQ candidates are running for seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary.
Under local Democratic Party rules, the State Committee includes a total of 38 members, half of whom must be women and half of whom consist of men. The highest two positions include National Committeeman and National Committeewoman. Other positions include seven At-Large Committee men and seven At-Large Committee women, and two Committee men and two Committee women for reach of the city’s eight wards.
Democratic primary voters can vote for as many as seven At-Large male and At-Large female candidates and for two male and two female candidates in each of the ward committee races.
The known LGBTQ Democratic State Committee candidates are as follows:
National Committeeman
Phillip Pannell, Free DC Slate
David Meadows, Democrats United to Free DC slate
At-Large Committeeman
Jordan Kagelmayer, Free DC slate
Malake Glee, Free DC slate
At-Large Committeewoman
Lia Lake Kuduk, Free DC slate
Sonya Joseph, Free DC slate
Ward 1 Committeewoman
Vita Rangel, Free DC slate
Ward 2 Committeeman
Steven M. McCarty, Free DC slate
John Fanning, Democrats United to Free DC
Ward 3 Committeeman
Kurt Vorndran, Democrats United to Free DC slate
Michaell Haresign, Democrats United to Free DC slate
Ward 4 Committeewoman
Corey Welcher
Ward 7 Committeeman
Jimie Williams, Democrats to Free DC slate
Ward 8 Committeeman
Alejaibra Sloan, Free DC slate
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