Local
Comings & Goings
Lazar re-elected to Democratic State Committee
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & 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].
John E. Lazar
Congratulations to John E. Lazar for his reelection as Ward 2 Committeeman to the D.C. Democratic State Committee. Lazar’s full-time career is as a non-profit executive who has a demonstrated ability in planning and implementing programs that align employee development and productivity with organizational goals. He is currently director of development for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition.
Prior to that John has worked for a wide variety of organizations, including Global Impact, The American Cancer Society and the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office. He is also a pastor having worked for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended the Seminary of the Immaculate Conception and earned his bachelor’s from Saint John’s University and his master’s from Brooklyn College.
Congratulations also to Michael Rogers and his business partner John Byrne, owners of RawStory Media. They recently announced the acquisition of two new websites — AlterNet.org, a pioneer in progressive online journalism, and The New Civil Rights Movement a website focused on politics, civil liberties and the LGBT community.
Rogers spent 15 years as a fundraiser for LGBT organizations, including Harvey Milk High School, the National LGBTQ Task Force and Greenpeace. In 2004, he started a news website focused on the exposure of anti-gay politicians living in the closet. His work was featured in the documentary “Outrage.” In 2008, he founded Netroots Connect. Byrne’s experience includes founding a newspaper at Oberlin College and then doing a stint as an intern at the Boston Globe. He launched RawStory in 2004. Byrne founded Prevention 305, an organization promoting the use of HIV prevention drugs that assists clients in Miami-Dade with a focus on at-risk youth of color and transgender women.
Michael Rogers and John Byrne (Photo of Rogers by Pooja Mehta; photo of Byrne by Ricardo Salazar)
Congratulations also to Lamont Akins, named interim director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Community Affairs. Akins joined the Bowser administration in January 2015. He manages and provides guidance to the 10 constituent engagement offices reporting to him helping them to implement the Mayor’s Fresh Start vision for constituent engagement and outreach in all eight Wards of the District.
Prior to joining the Bowser administration, he served as director of constituent service for Council member Anita Bonds. He has also served as a program manager in the D.C. Department of Employment Services. Before joining D.C. government he worked in Housing and Community Development for AARP, Fairfax County and the Dallas Housing Authority.
Akins has served two terms as an Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner for ANC 4D01 in the Brightwood Park neighborhood. He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, and has a master’s degree in community development from Delta State University.
Lamont Atkins
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.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
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