Local
Transgender woman stabbed repeatedly in D.C. attack
Police refuse to confirm reports of arrest of suspect
Bree Wallace (Photo courtesy of Ruby Corado.)
A police report, which lists the incident as an assault with intent to kill, says the stabbing took place at 3038 Stanton Road, S.E. It says the victim, Bree Wallace, managed to run several blocks to the apartment building where she lives on the 2400 block of 15th Place, S.E., before collapsing on the street.
The report says Wallace was taken to Prince George’s Hospital Center in nearby Cheverly, Md., where she was being treated for multiple stab wounds to the back and chest and severe lacerations to both of her hands.
“I don’t know why he did it,” Wallace told the Washington Blade in a phone interview on Sunday from her hospital bed. “He didn’t say anything,” she said in recounting how the incident took place after she recently met the attacker in the neighborhood near where she lives.
“The investigation has revealed that this assault with intent to kill was neither random nor a hate crime,” police spokesperson Gwendolyn Crump told the Blade in an e-mail.
But Crump and other police officials have declined to confirm Wallace’s assertion that police told her father that they arrested a suspect in the case late Friday or early Saturday.
“They told my dad,” said Wallace, in recounting to the Blade that a police investigator informed her father that an arrest had been made.
Trans activists Earline Budd and Ruby Corado, who know Wallace, said she told them she and the attacker had known each other casually prior to the attack. Corado said Wallace told her the attacker sent her a text message asking to meet up with her at the location where the stabbing occurred.
Corado told the Blade that Wallace informed her that at some point she declined the man’s request that the two become romantically or sexually involved. Corado said Wallace was a client at Casa Ruby, an LGBT community center with outreach to the Latino and trans communities for which Corado serves as director.
Wallace was also among 12 contestants chosen as a trans “calendar girl” in a fundraising contest sponsored by Casa Ruby as part of a Casa Ruby program to help train clients as makeup artists, Corado said.
Budd said the victim had also been one of her clients at Transgender Health Empowerment, a trans advocacy and services organization that recently has curtailed its operations due to financial problems.
“Complainant 1 [the victim] stated that she had met with Suspect 1 at the event location to buy a cigarette,” the police report says. “According to Complainant 1, Suspect 1 then suddenly started to stab Complainant 1 for unknown reasons,” the report says.
Budd and Corado said Wallace also informed them that police told her father that the suspect had been arrested and was expected to appear for a presentment or arraignment at D.C. Superior Court on Saturday during the court’s weekend proceedings.
“She knows who this guy is and she told police who he is,” Budd told the Blade. “I’m puzzled over why the police won’t confirm whether they made this arrest or not.”
Crump didn’t respond to a Blade inquiry about whether an arrest had been made.
Sgt. Matt Mahl, supervisor of the police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit, said the unit had been briefed on the incident but said he wasn’t authorized to comment further. He said the incident was still under investigation.
Budd expressed concern that police officials had not issued a public announcement about the incident over the weekend to alert the media and the community that a trans person had been attacked in what Budd called another in a string of violent anti-trans attacks that have occurred in the city over the past several years.
“I just want to make sure that it gets out there, that this attack happened and how brutal it was,” Budd said. “And also the message needs to be sent that transgender folks need to be very, very cautious in terms of their surroundings, who they are talking to and especially in the nighttime hours.”
Budd and Corado said Wallace told them doctors informed her that she had been stabbed about 40 times.
D.C. property records show that the unoccupied house where the stabbing took place was sold for $100,000 in January to a company called the Kamyab Group based in Fredericksburg, Va.
Wallace said she and the attacker entered the house through a door that was detached from its hinges.
Maryland
Layoffs and confusion at Pride Center of Maryland after federal grants cut, reinstated
Trump administration move panicked addiction and mental health programs
By ALISSA ZHU | After learning it had abruptly lost $2 million in federal funding, the Pride Center of Maryland moved to lay off a dozen employees, or about a third of its workforce, the Baltimore nonprofit’s leader said Thursday.
The group is one of thousands nationwide that reportedly received letters late Tuesday from the Trump administration. Their mental health and addiction grants had been terminated, effective immediately, the letters said.
By Wednesday night, federal officials moved to reverse the funding cuts by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, estimated to total $2 billion, according to national media reports. But the Pride Center of Maryland’s CEO Cleo Manago said as of Thursday morning he had not heard anything from the federal government confirming those reports.
The rest of this article can be read on the Baltimore Banner’s website.
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].
Congratulations to Vida Rangel, JD/MPP on her promotion to Deputy Director of the Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments. Rangel is now the highest-ranking transgender official in the history of District government. On accepting the position Rangel said, “I am proud to step into this leadership role and to continue serving my communities. Our District is full of passionate and knowledgeable people who are committed to public service, and it is an honor to help them explore opportunities to serve their neighbors.”
Rangel has previously served in this office as Director of Operations. Prior to this as Bargaining Committee Chair, Organizing Committee, NCTE United, Nonprofit Professional Employees Union IFTPE Local 70. As Policy Counsel, National Center for Transgender Equality; and Elizabeth Warren for President, lead organizer, Illinois 4th Congressional District. She has worked with, and served on boards of, The Black & Pink National, Federal City Performing Arts Assoc., and LAGBAC.
Rangel earned her bachelor’s in sociology from Sam Houston State University; master’s of Public Policy from Loyola University, Chicago; and Juris Doctor, Loyola University, Chicago.
Congratulations also to James Conlon new PFLAG vice president of Development & Philanthropic Partnerships. Upon his appointment Conlon said, “It is an absolute privilege to join PFLAG National and lead their Development & Philanthropic Partner team into a new era. Right now, LGBTQ+ people and their families are terrified of what the future might bring, and PFLAG must continue to be there. My job is to ensure PFLAG strongly endures and thrives, because never has there been a clearer time for our community to unite in fighting for the dignity and well-being of every LGBTQ+ person.”
Brian Bond, CEO, PFLAG National, said, “At a time when PFLAG National programs and participation in them have grown significantly, even as corporate giving has left a $1.3M gap in our funding, James is a critical new addition to the team. With his vast expertise, James will drive our growth and ensure that PFLAG continues meeting the needs of families and communities across the country.”
Conlon is a seasoned fundraiser who has spent extensive time working with advocates, supporters, and leaders, of the LGBTQ+ movement to understand how to effectively support the community. He began his career as an intern in the Massachusetts State House. He has helped raise more than $60 million for critical causes and candidates. Prior to joining PFLAG James oversaw LGBTQ+ investments and fundraising, with the Democratic National Committee (DNC). Prior to that he served in the same role for Harris-Walz 2024, and additionally served in senior fundraising positions for the Senate Majority PAC, as well as for Representatives Josh Gottheimer, and Conor Lamb.
Conlon earned his bachelor’s degree in political science and government from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
District of Columbia
D.C.’s annual MLK Peace Walk and Parade set for Jan. 19
LGBTQ participants expected to join mayor’s contingent
Similar to past years, members of the LGBTQ community were expected to participate in D.C.’s 21st annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day Peace Walk and Parade scheduled to take place Monday, Jan. 19.
Organizers announced this year’s Peace Walk, which takes place ahead of the parade, was scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. at the site of a Peace Rally set to begin at 9:30 a.m. at the intersection of Firth Sterling Avenue and Sumner Road, S.E., a short distance from Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
The Peace Walk and the parade, which is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. at the same location, will each travel along Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue a little over a half mile to Marion Barry Avenue near the 11th Street Bridge where they will end.
Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, said he and members of his staff would be marching in the parade as part of the mayor’s parade contingent. In past years, LGBTQ community members have also joined the mayor’s parade contingent.
Stuart Anderson, one of the MLK Day parade organizers, said he was not aware of any specific LGBTQ organizations that had signed up as a parade contingent for this year’s parade. LGBTQ group contingents have joined the parade in past years.
Denise Rolark Barnes, one of the lead D.C. MLK Day event organizers, said LGBTQ participants often join parade contingents associated with other organizations.
Barnes said a Health and Wellness Fair was scheduled to take place on the day of the parade along the parade route in a PNC Bank parking lot at 2031 Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., S.E.
A statement on the D.C. MLK Day website describes the parade’s history and impact on the community.
“Established to honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the parade united residents of Ward 8, the District, and the entire region in the national movement to make Dr. King’s birthday a federal holiday,” the statement says. “Today, the parade not only celebrates its historic roots but also promotes peace and non-violence, spotlights organizations that serve the community, and showcases the talent and pride of school-aged children performing for family, friends, and community members.”
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