Local
Trial begins for D.C. cop charged with shooting trans women in car
One man guilty, another acquitted in unrelated anti-lesbian attack in Columbia Heights
A police spokesperson said officer Kenneth Furr has been suspended indefinitely without pay since shortly after his arrest. (Washington Blade photo by Phil Reese)
A D.C. Superior Court jury on Wednesday found Christian Washington guilty of simple assault and threats to do bodily harm in connection with a July 2011 assault against lesbian Yazzmen Morse and four of her friends outside the Columbia Heights Metro station.
The jury also found Dalonte Washington, Christian Washington’s brother, not guilty of a charge of simple assault against at least two of Morse’s lesbian friends in the same incident – Kiara Johnson and Dominique KcKee. The charges against the two brothers were classified as hate crimes.
In a separate case, a D.C. Superior Court trial began on Wednesday for D.C. police officer Kenneth Furr, who was arrested while off-duty in August 2011 for allegedly firing his service revolver into the front windshield of a car in which three transgender women and two male friends were sitting. Two of the women and one of the men suffered non-life threatening gunshot wounds in the incident.
The incident drew expressions of shock and outrage from LGBT activists, who organized a protest vigil at the scene of the shooting the day after the incident occurred.
Earlier this year, a Superior Court grand jury handed down a 9-count indictment against Furr that included six counts of assault with a dangerous weapon, one count of assault with intent to kill while armed, and two counts of solicitation for prostitution.
One of the transgender women told police that the incident began when Furr offered to pay her for sex while the two crossed paths inside a CVS drugstore at 5th and Massachusetts Ave., N.W. The woman said Furr became angry when she refused his offer, and a verbal altercation began between Furr and a male friend who was with her.
A police arrest affidavit says Furr threatened the friend with a gun outside the CVS store. It says the friend, another male friend, the transgender woman who had been approached by Furr, and two of her transgender female friends later followed Furr in their car after watching him drive away. They said their intent was to follow him while attempting to call police to have him arrested, the affidavit says.
The affidavit says Furr stopped his car and pointed his gun at the other car, prompting the male driver to duck for cover, which resulted in his car colliding with Furr’s car. At that time, Furr climbed on the hood of the car that hit his car and fired his gun several times through the front windshield, striking three of the five terrified occupants, the affidavit says.
In opening arguments at his trial on Wednesday, Furr’s lawyer argued that Furr believed his life was in danger after noticing the car with the people he had been arguing with was following him through the streets of D.C., according to D.C. Trans Coalition member and attorney Jeff Light, who attended the trial.
Light said defense attorney David Knight argued that Furr acted in self-defense when he fired his gun.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Worm, one of the prosecutors in the case, disputed Furr’s self-defense claim at an earlier court hearing, saying Furr fired at the five people out of anger and was never in danger.
Superior Court Judge Russell Canan adjourned the trial Thursday afternoon and said it would resume Monday morning, Oct. 22. Canan said he expected the trial to last two weeks, according to Light.
Prosecutors have not listed charges against Furr as hate crimes.
In the case involving the lesbian assault victims, the women told police at the time of the incident that the attack began after they politely spurned the men’s attempt to “flirt” with them as they walked along the 3100 block of 14th St., N.W. about 3 a.m. on July 30, 2011.
One of the men became enraged and began calling the women “dyke bitches,” the women told police, after two of them identified themselves as girl friends.
The case created a stir in the LGBT community after the women initially reported that as many as seven D.C. police officers who arrived on the scene refused to arrest the men or take a report from the women.
D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier announced a short time later that the department was investigating the officers’ conduct and that they could be subject to disciplinary action, including dismissal.
Court records show that Superior Court Judge Florence Pan ordered Christian Washington held while he awaits sentencing scheduled for Nov. 8.
The charges against both Washington brothers were listed as hate crimes.
Light said he filed a motion prior to the start of the Furr trial on behalf of the D.C. Trans Coalition asking for the judge to release questionnaires given to several dozen potential jurors during the jury selection phase of the trial.
He said his aim was to learn whether the judge, along with prosecutors and defense attorneys, were diligently screening potential jurors for bias against transgender people in a case involving three transgender victims. Light said he was pleased that Judge Canan approved his motion and arranged for the completed juror questionnaires to be given to him following of the jury selection.
“One question was, are you biased toward the transgender community,” Light told the Blade. “Several said yes.”
“The judge said he could not imagine how anyone answering ‘yes’ to being bias against transgender people could get on the jury,” Light said.
Light said he also was pleased that Judge Canan showed sensitivity to transgender people when he instructed one of the defense attorneys to address one of the transgender women in the case with a female rather than a male pronoun.
The judge spoke out on the issue before the jury entered the courtroom when the defense attorney referred to complaining witness and gunshot wound victim Chloe Moore, whose legal name is Alexander Moore, Light said. According to Light, the defense attorney referred to Moore as “Mr. Moore” until Judge Canan instructed him to refer to Moore as “Ms. Moore.”
A police spokesperson said Furr has been suspended indefinitely without pay since shortly after his arrest.
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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