Local
Gray, Mendelson receive top GLAA ratings for April primary
Graham outscores opponent in Ward 1 Council race
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray is running for re-election. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Gray and Mendelson, who are longtime supporters of the LGBT community, were the only two candidates to receive a +10 among a total of 43 candidates rated in contests for mayor and seats on the City Council.
Council members Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6) and Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), who are running for mayor, came in close behind Gray with ratings of +9.5 and +8 respectively. Both have also been longtime supporters of the LGBT community.
GLAA is a non-partisan LGBT advocacy group founded in 1971. It says it rates candidates on the basis of their past records on LGBT, AIDS and other issues deemed important to the LGBT community and on their responses to a detailed questionnaire that asks about those issues.
The group has said it gives higher ratings to candidates that go beyond just expressing support on LGBT issues when they show through their questionnaire responses an understanding of the issues and how best to address them.
GLAA President Rick Rosendall called the LGBT related records of Wells and Evans “excellent” and noted that the group said in its statement that Evans has the longest record of support due to his 20-year tenure as a Council member. He said Gray and Mendelson received a +10 score because both had undertaken a large number of pro-LGBT initiatives in the last few years that, along with their strong past records, gave them an edge over the other candidates.
“Mr. Gray’s accessibility, responsiveness, and follow-through have made him highly effective on LGBT issues,” GLAA said in its statement. “He has been a champion for transgender people, including with Project Empowerment job training.”
Among the other mayoral candidates running in the April primary, Busboys and Poets restaurant owner and progressive political activist Andy Shallal received a +6; Council member Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4) received a +5.5; attorney and former State Department official Reta Jo Lewis received a +4.5, Council member Vincent Orange (D-At-Large) received a +3; and businessman and civic activist Carlos Allen received a “0” rating.
In its statement accompanying the ratings, GLAA said Allen received an automatic score of “0” under the group’s policy for candidates who don’t return the questionnaire and have no known record on LGBT issues.
All of the Democratic mayoral candidates that returned the questionnaire expressed strong support for LGBT rights in general.
Among the non-Democratic mayoral candidates, GLAA gave Statehood-Green Party candidate Faith a +3.5 and gay Libertarian Party candidate Bruce Majors a +2.
Majors, a longtime LGBT rights advocate, received a +2 rating because “his party’s ideological distrust of government is at odds with policies and reforms favored by GLAA,” the group said in its statement. “Consequently, many of his responses were interpreted as non-responsive or negative,” the statement says.
Gay D.C. Council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) received a +7.5 compared to his sole opponent in the Democratic primary, public relations executive and community activist Brianne Nadeau, who received a +5.
Political observers say Graham is facing his toughest re-election race this year for a fifth term on the Council
GLAA said it gave Graham higher points for his long record of support on LGBT and AIDS related issues, citing his work recently on pushing through a bill to provide better services to homeless LGBT youth. The group gave him a slight edge over Nadeau in the substance of his questionnaire responses.
But the group gave Nadeau a slight edge over Graham over the two candidates’ positions on an issue GLAA has long considered important – whether tiny, ad hoc neighborhood citizens groups should be given legal standing to protest liquor licenses of restaurants and bars.
GLAA favors giving exclusive authority to challenge liquor licenses to the city’s elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissions rather than un-elected ad hoc groups, which nightlife advocates say unnecessarily block or delay the approval of licenses for nightlife establishments, both gay and straight. Nadeau, a former ANC commissioner, said she supports giving ANCs the sole legal standing to contest liquor licenses.
GLAA said Graham didn’t take a position on the issue in his questionnaire response, saying he described instead how he helped facilitate a committee of citizens and businesses representatives to consider the issue.
In the Council Chair race, GLAA said Mendelson’s +10 rating reflects his record as an ally who has shepherded through the Council a long list of LGBT supportive bills, including the marriage equality bill.
The group said it gave Mendelson’s opponent, Democrat Calvin Gurley, a “0” rating because Gurley didn’t return the questionnaire and also has no known record on LGBT issues.
Among the five Democrats running in the At-Large Council race, challenger Nate Bennett-Fleming, who currently serves as the city’s non-paid “shadow” U.S. Representatives, received a +7, one point higher than the +6 rating GLAA gave to incumbent Council member Anita Bonds, who won the seat in a special election last year.
Both are strong supporters of LGBT rights. But the slightly higher rating for Bennett-Fleming, a recent law school graduate relatively new to the local political scene compared to Bonds, who has been active in politics and government since the 1970s, is likely to raise eyebrows among some local activists.
GLAA President Rick Rosendall said Bennett-Fleming’s questionnaire responses included a few more substantive insights than Bonds’ but called both candidates’ responses “very good,” saying GLAA considers a rating of +5 and above to be a good showing for a candidate.
The ratings for the other At-Large Democratic candidates were: Pedro Rubio, +3; John Settles II, +2.5; and Kevin Valentine Jr., 0. Valentine is among the candidates who didn’t return the questionnaire and have no known LGBT record, GLAA said.
Among the non-Democratic At-Large candidates running in their respective party primaries, Statehood-Green Party candidate Eugene Puryear received a 4.5; Statehood-Green Party candidate G. Lee Aikin received a +3; and Libertarian Party candidate Frederick Stein, who didn’t return the questionnaire, received a “0.”
Gay Republican candidate Marc Morgan, who’s running unopposed for the GOP nomination for the At-Large Council seat, received a +2. GLAA said he didn’t return the questionnaire.
In its statement accompanying the ratings, GLAA said Morgan’s record of involvement in LGBT rights activities in Ohio and Arizona and his involvement with the National Minority AIDS Council in D.C. were counted in his favor and viewed as “very admirable.”
The statement says Morgan lost points for “his support for anti-gay politicians John Boehner, Robert Ehrlich, and Laura Knapereck,” which “detract from his record.” Boehner, a Republican and Speaker of the U.S. House, among other things, has blocked the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, an LGBT rights bill, from coming up for a vote in the House. Ehrlich is a former Maryland governor and Knapereck has served in the Arizona legislature.
In the remaining Council races, GLAA issued these ratings:
Ward 3: Council member Mary Cheh (D), +8.5; Ryan Sabot (Libertarian), “0” [Questionnaire wasn’t returned].
Ward 5: Council member Kenyan McDuffie (D), +4.5; Kathy Henderson (D), “0” [Questionnaire was returned but GLAA disagreed with most responses]; Carolyn Steptoe (D), -2.
GLAA said Steptoe didn’t return the questionnaire and is viewed as having a negative record for testifying in support of placing D.C.’s same-sex marriage law on the ballot in a voter referendum in 2010.
Ward 6: Charles Allen (D), +8.5; Darrel Thompson (D), +2; Pranav Badhwar (Libertarian), +2.
Allen, the former chief of staff for Wells, received the highest rating for a non-incumbent running in the primary. In its statement, GLAA said Allen has a long record of support for LGBT issues both as a former Council staffer and former president of the Ward 6 Democrats.
GLAA’s detailed analysis of its ratings, including links to the candidates’ questionnaire responses, can be found here: http://www.glaa.org/archive/2014/primaryratings.shtml
Delaware
57 towns in 57 hours: Rep. McBride kicks off re-election campaign
Touts record of championing bipartisan legislation
Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) officially kicked off her re-election campaign this week with a grueling tour of her state that saw her visit 57 municipalities in just 57 hours.
The tour culminated Monday evening in Rehoboth Beach with a packed crowd at the Convention Center. At least 400 attendees stood patiently in a line that wrapped around the block and snaked down Rehoboth Avenue. Once inside, a DJ entertained the ebullient crowd that kept busy batting beach balls around the venue.
The crowd featured a large LGBTQ presence that cheered speakers including state Rep. Claire Snyder-Hall, state Sen. Russ Huxtable, and Delaware Democratic Party Chair Evelyn Brady, who introduced McBride.
McBride took the stage to Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” and the lyrics “I get knocked down, but I get up again.” In her remarks, she touched on a record of introducing more bipartisan legislation than any other freshman lawmaker and touted an award her office won for providing superior constituent service.
“People want leaders who are focused on lowering costs, solving problems, and delivering results,” she said. “That’s exactly what I’ve worked to do in Congress, and that’s why I’m running for re-election – to continue delivering for and defending Delaware.”
McBride is the first transgender member of Congress and is Delaware’s sole representative in the U.S. House. She will face the winner of the Republican primary in November. Rev. Earl Cooper — a former Democrat McBride defeated two years ago — is running for the GOP nomination. The state primary election is Sept. 15 and the general election is Nov. 3.
District of Columbia
D.C. nude dance club Archibald’s to feature male strippers beginning Pride weekend
Popular downtown venue to debut new lower floor gay ‘underworld’
Archibald’s Gentlemen’s Club, which has offered adult entertainment in the nation’s capital involving nude female dancers since it first opened in 1969 at 1520 K St., N.W., will offer nude male dancers beginning Saturday night, June 20, according to co-owner Thom Naylor.
The female dancers will continue as usual on the upper two floors of Archibald’s three-story building, according to Naylor, who released a flier promoting the opening of the male dancer venue as an event “for Gay Pride.”
He told the Washington Blade he expects a dozen male dancers to perform beginning at 9 p.m. Saturday when D.C.’s LGBTQ Pride Parade will take place earlier in the day.
Following its opening night for the male dancers, Naylor said he plans to continue offering male nude dancers on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings. The club is closed on Sundays and Mondays.
“I want to have an official Champagne grand opening probably in July,” he said referring to the male dance venue. “This is like a soft opening just to get going and to get everybody acclimated.”
The decision by Archibald’s to offer nude male dance entertainment for an LGBTQ clientele will mark the first time such entertainment will take place in D.C. since March 2020, when the LGBTQ nightclub Ziegfeld’s-Secrets, which featured nude male dancers, was forced to close at the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
The owner of the building at 1824 Half St., S.W., discontinued the Ziegfeld’s-Secrets lease a short time later to demolish the building and construct a high-rise residential condominium.
Naylor, who identifies as gay, said he has long believed nude male entertainment should be available in D.C. for a gay clientele as well as anyone else interested in that type of entertainment.
“So, we decided to go with three days in the summer and then come September go into a full swing when we’re open five days a week,” he said, referring to the male dancers.
District of Columbia
LGBTQ seniors honored at D.C. Silver Pride event
City officials, activists credit them with playing lead role in movement
About 250 people turned out on Friday, June 12, for D.C.’s annual Silver Pride celebration, which honors and recognizes LGBTQ seniors and their role in advancing LGBTQ rights.
The event was held in a large conference hall in the building of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization, which was among the event’s sponsors
According to local event organizer and longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Rayceen Pendarvis, who served as host of the event, the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living and the D.C.-based Seabury Resources for Aging, a nonprofit group that provides services and support for seniors, were the two lead organizers of this year’s Silver Pride.
In addition to presentations by several speakers, a DJ played music for dancing and two popular local drag performers — Shi-Queeta Lee and Capri Bloomingdale — performed at the event drawing loud applause.
Among the speakers were Japer Bowles, director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Jody Wright, a member of the board of the Capital Pride Alliance, which organizes D.C.’s annual Pride events; Craig McCullough, board chair of Seabury Resources for Aging; Jermaine Dillon, an official with the D.C. Department of Aging and Community Living; and Bianca Ward, an official with the ViiV Healthcare company, which was one of the sponsors of the event.
“It is a joy to be a senior in this community,” Pendarvis told the crowd in opening remarks at the event. “And every part of every Pride movement is built on the backs and the foundations of the elders,” she said.
“We have to have a day when we’re celebrated and we are honored and we are represented in our fullness,” Pendarvis told the Washington Blade. “Because sometimes unfortunately, various Prides forget about our elders. And we have to let them know that we’re here, we’re queer, and we ain’t going anywhere,” Pendarvis said.
“It is my distinct honor and privilege to be here among the elders,” Wright, the Capital Pride board member, told the gathering. “Because what we do at Capital Pride is because of what you’ve done and you continue to do, because we are standing on the shoulders of giants,” he said, in referring to LGBTQ seniors.
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