Local
Group attacks pro-LGBT candidates in Fairfax
Incumbents who backed trans policy targeted
(Photo by Mario Sanchez Prada; courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
The anti-LGBT Traditional Values Coalition launched an email campaign earlier this month attacking all but two members of the Fairfax County School Board for “working against” students and parents by adopting what it says is a pro-gay and pro-transgender agenda.
The California-based group was referring to the board’s approval this year of a policy banning discrimination against transgender students and employees in the Fairfax public school system and a Family Life Education curriculum that calls for teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity in sex education classes in grades 7-10.
“The current school board’s recent actions demonstrate a deeply troubling pattern of a (1) lack of transparency, at times to the point of deceit and a (2) total lack of responsiveness to the point of hostility to the community of those sharing concerns about family values and respect of faith issues,” one of the group’s emails to voters says.
The board voted 10 to 2 in support of the two LGBT supportive measures during meetings where a majority of large audiences opposed the measures and booed and jeered while school board members spoke in support of the proposals.
Phil Hicks, an official with the Metro D.C. chapter of Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), has testified before the school board at various public hearings that he believes a majority of parents support the LGBT-supportive policies.
The Traditional Values Coalition has endorsed candidates challenging most of the incumbents. In an action expected by LGBT activists, the group has endorsed the two school board members who either abstained or voted against the two LGBT-supportive measures.
LGBT advocates and their allies have focused on one race in the Providence District in which incumbent Patty Reed, who opposed the LGBT-supportive measures, is being challenged by Dalia Palchik, a teacher who has expressed strong support for LGBT rights. The district includes the western section of Falls Church.
Palchik has been endorsed by LGBT Democrats of Virginia and the state’s two openly gay state legislators – State Sen. Adam Ebbin of Alexandria and State Del. Mark Sickles of Fairfax. Also endorsing Palchik is Mark Levine, an openly gay candidate for a delegate seat from Alexandria.
Palchik said she would have voted for the transgender non-discrimination measure and the LGBT-inclusive Family Life Education curriculum, saying the two measures were needed to protect the rights of students vulnerable to discrimination and bullying.
Reed has said she did not vote for the trans non-discrimination policy because she believes the board needed more information through a cost-benefit analysis before voting on the measure. She has said she voted for an earlier measure banning discrimination based on sexual orientation.
The election is scheduled to take place Nov. 3.
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Congratulations to Yadiel Meléndez, on their new role as Community Associate, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Meléndez is piloting a new role as a Community Associate at the Wanda Alston Foundation, where they support queer and trans young people in finding their footing, building independence, and experiencing a housing community where they are seen, valued, and affirmed. They are coming into this role with more than a decade of experience as a community organizer and operations specialist, supporting diverse communities through service, advocacy, and program coordination.
Previously they worked for Right Proper Brewing Shaw as a server and bartender and at Sephora, Washington, DC, and at FreshFarm, DC, in bilingual food access. They also worked freelance to build foundational structures for local queer BIPOC performance art coalitions, producing variety shows to curate space for marginalized performance artists in the community. They were a production manager for Haus of Hart Productions, a BIPOC centric performance art production. They also worked as field staff with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Stafford, Va.
Meléndez is bilingual, Spanish and English. Their work is guided by a commitment to dignity, safety, and trauma-informed engagement, particularly within LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.
Congratulations also to Ben Rosen LICSW, on his new role as program director, with the Wanda Alston Foundation. Rosen previously worked with Fountain House’s OnRamps program, helping to build a new, innovative outreach program for individuals considered chronically homeless, and living with serious mental illness, in the Times Square area of New York. Rosen is a Psychotherapist, having worked with SG Psychotherapy, and as the psychotherapist with the Nest Community Health Center (URAM).
Rosen has a B.F.A. in Theatre Arts: Musical Theatre, Minor in Psychology (Cum Laude) from Malloy University Conservatory; and his M.S.W. in Clinical Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups, from The Silberman School of Social Work, Hunter College, N.Y. He is independently licensed in New York and Washington, D.C.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
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BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
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