Local
‘Eyes on Chechnya’ protest targets Russian ambassador
Demonstration comes day before Tillerson meets with Russian official
Protesters demonstrate in “Eyes on Chechnya” protest. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
Protesters gathered before the D.C. residence of the Russian ambassador to the United States on Tuesday to call on Russia to investigate reports of anti-gay abuses and concentration camps in Chechnya and bring them to an end.
An estimated 75 people gathered before the residence of Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak in a demonstration organized by the Human Rights Campaign intended to highlight the arrests and detentions of gay and bisexual men in the semi-autonomous Republic.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, spoke at the “Eyes on Chechnya” demonstration and called on the Russian government to take the lead to end the reported abuses.
“Instead of rounding up gay men, Russia must pressure Chechnya to arrest the real criminals, the torturers, the jailers and the executioners,” Griffin said.
Griffin said he also carried a message for the U.S. government: Let the victims of the reported abuses seek asylum in the United States. On the day before Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was set to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Griffin said the Trump official must raise the issue with his Russian counterpart.
“He must show the same leadership that German Chancellor Merkel did when she met with Putin just last week,” Griffin said, referencing a meeting in which Merkel publicly raised the issue of anti-gay abuses with the Russian leader.
The demonstration was the result of ongoing concern over reports from Chechnya that local authorities have arrested more than 100 gay men and sent them to secret prisons for torture. At least four men have reportedly died as a result.
Chechnya is led by Ramzan Kadyrov, who has denied the atrocities are happnening by asserting gay people don’t exist there. British Minister of state for the Foreign Office Sir Alan Duncan said on the floor of parliament he was told of alleged plans in Chechnya to “eliminate” the country’s gay community by the start of Ramadan, which begins May 26.
Rob Berschinski, senior vice president for policy at Human Rights First, said the reported attacks on gay men are “part and parcel of the Russian government’s program of repression.”
“From a propaganda law that targets members of the LGBT community and their allies, to an NGO law that says anyone critical of the Putin regime is an enemy of the state to invasions of Russian neighbors to support for the brutal Assad regime in Syria, to action at the United Nations hoping to tear down an international system based around human rights and international law, our eyes are on Russia,” Berschinski said.
At the protest, participants chanted, “Stop the Violence…Stop the Hate…Russia Must Investigate.” One sign read, “Say Something Don! Pooty Got Your Tongue!” a reference to Trump’s suspected ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, whom intelligence agencies said assisted the president’s election efforts with illegal hacking.
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has spoken out against the atrocities, but President Trump himself and Tillerson have said nothing. (For that matter, mainstream media reporters haven’t asked Trump about the matter even though he has participated in several interviews with the press.) The Washington Blade has repeatedly sought comment from the White House on the atrocities.
The protest concluded just minutes before news broke that President Trump had terminated FBI Director James Comey, who was investigating potential Trump collusion with Russia during the 2016 presidential election.
Jeremy Kadden, HRC’s senior international policy advocate, said the process by which gay people in Chechnya could seek asylum in the United States starts with the U.S. government signaling they’re welcome to come here, but that hasn’t happened yet.
“What we understand is happening now is that folks who are trying to get out need the U.S. government to say they are welcome to come here,” Kadden said. “That’s a step that speeds things along a lot faster.”
Kadden said Russian authorities may seek to reclaim the persecuted gay men if they escape to nearby countries, which is why U.S. asylum for them is important.
“The Chechnen families that are trying to track them down won’t go that far,” Kadden said. “But the farther the refugees can get from Russia, the safer they are, and so I think they definitely want to get to the United States.”
The Blade has placed a request with the State Department seeking comment on the status of allowing persecuted gay men in Chechnya to come to the United States.
Ellen Kahn, a 54-year-old lesbian resident of Silver Silver, Md., was at the demonstration and said she came to encourage greater action from the Trump administration on the reported hostilities.
“Given the atrocities in Chechnya, and the silence of our administration — with the very small exception of Nikki Haley mentioning it — we have to push our government to speak up,” she said. “This is like when I think about our friends dying of AIDS very early in the epidemic 30 years ago and Ronald Reagan not saying a word, and we had to take to the streets. To me, this is the same urgency.”
The Blade has placed a request with the Russian embassy seeking comment on the protest.
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
District of Columbia
Capital Pride board member resigns, alleges failure to address ‘sexual misconduct’
In startling letter, Taylor Chandler says board’s inaction protected ‘sexual predator’
Taylor Lianne Chandler, a member of the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors since 2019 who most recently served as the board’s secretary, submitted a letter of resignation on Feb. 24 that alleges the board has failed to address instances of “sexual misconduct” within the Capital Pride organization.
The Washington Blade received a copy of Chandler’s resignation letter one day after she submitted it from an anonymous source. Chandler, who identifies as transgender and intersex, said in an interview that she did not send the letter to the Blade, but she suspected someone associated with Capital Pride, which organizes D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, “wants it out in the open.”
“It is with a heavy heart, but with absolute clarity, that I submit my resignation from the Capital Pride Alliance Board of Directors effective immediately,” Chandler states in her letter. “I have devoted nearly ten years of my life to this organization,” she wrote, pointing to her initial involvement as a volunteer and later as a producer of events as chair of the organization’s Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, and Intersex Committee.
“Capital Pride once meant something profound to me – a space of safety, visibility, and community for people who have often been denied all three,” her letter continues. “That is no longer the organization I am part of today.”
“I, along with other board members, brought forward credible concerns regarding sexual misconduct – a pattern of behavior spanning years – to the attention of this board,” Chandler states in the letter. “What followed was not accountability. What followed was retaliation. Rather than addressing the substance of what was reported, officers and fellow board members chose to chastise those of us who came forward.”
The letter adds, “This board has made its priorities clear through its actions: protecting a sexual predator matters more than protecting the people who had the courage to come forward. … I have been targeted, bullied, and made to feel like an outsider for doing what any person of integrity would do – telling the truth.”
In response to a request from the Blade for comment, Anna Jinkerson, who serves as chair of the Capital Pride board, sent the Blade a statement praising Taylor Chandler’s efforts as a Capital Pride volunteer and board member but did not specifically address the issue of alleged sexual misconduct.
“We’re also aware that her resignation letter has been shared with the media and has listed concerns,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “When concerns are brought to CPA, we act quickly and appropriately to address them,” she said.
“As we continue to grow our organization, we’re proactively strengthening the policies and procedures that shape our systems, our infrastructure, and the support we provide to our team and partners,” Jinkerson said in her statement. “We’re doing this because the community’s experience with CPA must always be safe, affirming, empowering, and inclusive,” she added.
In an interview with the Blade, Chandler said she was not the target of the alleged sexual harassment.
She said a Capital Pride investigation identified one individual implicated in a “pattern” of sexual harassment related behavior over a period of time. But she said she was bound by a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that applies to all board members and she cannot disclose the name of the person implicated in alleged sexual misconduct or those who came forward to complain about it.
“It was one individual, but there was a pattern and a history,” Chandler said, noting that was the extent of what she can disclose.
“And I’ll say this,” she added. “In my opinion, with gay culture sometimes the touchy feely-ness that goes on seems to be like just part of the culture, not necessarily the same as a sexual assault or whatever. But at the same time, if someone does not want those advances and they’re saying no and trying to push you away and trying to avoid you, then it makes it that way regardless of the culture.”
When asked about when the allegations of sexual harassment first surfaced, Chandler said, “In the past year is when the allegation came forward from one individual. But in the course of this all happening, other individuals came forward and talked about instances – several which showed a pattern.”
Chandler’s resignation comes about five months after Capital Pride Alliance announced in a statement released in October 2025 that its then board president, Ashley Smith, resigned from his position on Oct. 18 after Capital Pride became aware of a “claim” regarding Smith. The statement said the group retained an independent firm to investigate the matter, but it released no further details since that time. Smith has declined to comment on the matter.
When asked by the Blade if the Smith resignation could be linked in some way to allegations of sexual misconduct, Chandler said, “I can’t make a comment one way or the other on that.”
Chandler’s resignation and allegations come after Capital Pride Alliance has been credited with playing the lead role in organizing the World Pride celebration hosted by D.C. in which dozens of LGBTQ-related Pride events were held from May through June of 2025.
The letter of resignation also came just days before Capital Pride Alliance’s annual “Reveal” event scheduled for Feb. 26 at the Hamilton Hotel in which the theme for D.C.’s June 2026 LGBTQ Pride events was to be announced along with other Pride plans.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats elect new leaders
LGBTQ political group set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Longtime Democratic Party activists Stevie McCarty and Brad Howard won election last week as president and vice president for administration for the Capital Stonewall Democrats, D.C.’s largest local LGBTQ political organization.
In a Feb. 24 announcement, the group said McCarty and Howard, both of whom are elected DC Advisory Neighborhood Commissioners, ran in a special Capital Stonewall Democrats election to fill the two leadership positions that became vacant when the officers they replaced resigned.
Outgoing President Howard Garrett, who McCarty has replaced, told the Washington Blade he resigned after taking on a new position as chair of the city’s Ward 1 Democratic Committee. The Capital Stonewall Democrats announcement didn’t say who Howard replaced as vice president for administration.
The group’s website shows its other officers include Elizabeth Mitchell as Vice President for Legislative and Political Affairs, and Monica Nemeth as Treasurer. The officer position of secretary is vacant, the website shows.
“As we look toward 2026, the stakes for D.C. and for LGBTQ+ communities have never been clearer,” the group’s statement announcing McCarty and Howard’s election says. “Our 50th anniversary celebration on March 20 and the launch of our D.C. LGBTQ+ Voter’s Guide mark the beginning of a major year for endorsements, organizing, and coalition building,” the statement says.
McCarty said among the organization’s major endeavors will be holding virtual endorsement forums where candidates running for D.C. mayor and the Council will appear and seek the group’s endorsement.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to Capital Stonewall Democrats. McCarty said the 50th anniversary celebration on March 20, in which D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and members of the D.C. Council are expected to attend, will be held at the PEPCO Gallery meeting center at 702 8th St., N.W.
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