Local
Comings & Goings
Iraq vet lands new post; Movahedi teaching law in Spain
From left, Allison Jaslow, Babek Movahedi and Anthony Shop.
The Comings and Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations are in order to Allison Jaslow, who has just been named director of Political and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization representing post-9/11 veterans and their families. Jaslow has joined the team to support IAVA’s growing D.C.-based policy operations. Jaslow is a former Army captain who served two combat deployments in Iraq.
According to IAVA founder and CEO Paul Rieckhoff, “Allison is a proven leader with a wealth of diverse political experience inside and outside the Beltway. Allison’s command of the political spectrum on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail, and first-hand knowledge of veteran’s issues will be a tremendous asset to our growing, dynamic policy team.”
Jaslow’s new job will have her working to support the development of IAVA’s annual policy agenda and advocacy campaigns. She will lead IAVA’s engagement with other Veterans Service Organizations, government agencies and advocacy organizations. Jaslow has a diversity of experience, including stints on political campaigns across the country, in the White House and on both sides of Capitol Hill. She recently served as chief of staff and campaign manager for Congresswoman Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) and had also served as press secretary for Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), where she was involved in the veteran leader’s efforts to protect the legacy of the post-9/11 GI Bill.
On her appointment, Jaslow said, “I’m proud to be one of the one percent of Americans who can relate to those who saw combat after 9/11 and even prouder to have the opportunity to join an incredible organization that gives our entire generation of veterans a voice. IAVA’s advocacy has made an indelible impact on the lives of countless veterans and military families, and I’m thrilled to play a part in keeping us in the center of important public debates.”
Jaslow graduated from the University of Central Missouri, where she was a proud member of the Fighting Mules ROTC Battalion. She also serves on the Board of Trustees at Wentworth Military Academy and College.
Congratulations also to Babak Movahedi, a former D.C. and Miami resident now living in Barcelona, Spain. Babak is now a professor of Law and Business at ESERP Business School in Barcelona teaching MBA students. He is also working with Democrats Abroad to enroll as many Americans as possible in the Democratic Party. Democrats Abroad is given state-level recognition by the Democratic National Committee. He is a vice president of Democrats Abroad/Barcelona.
Most in the District know Movahedi from his time here as owner of MOVA on P Street, N.W. He also had two outlets of MOVA in Miami for a number of years. The one in South Beach was the ‘place to be’ for the gay community for many years. During his time in Miami, he was a Special Master/Magistrate for the City of Miami Beach and served as one of three Judicial Officers for the City of Miami Beach.
Another who should be congratulated is Anthony Shop, who is now an adjunct lecturer in the George Washington University School of Business where he received his MBA. Shop is a co-founder of the digital marketing agency Social Driver with his husband Thomas. A former journalist and press secretary, Shop is the first new media professional to be elected to the prestigious National Press Club’s Board of Governors. He founded the Club’s popular “Get It Online” digital media series, which has hosted luminaries from CNN, NASA and the White House to discuss media trends. His views on digital media have been featured by the BBC, CBS and USA Today, and he has been featured as a keynote speaker at conferences across the globe, from Singapore and London to New York and Miami.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
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