Local
High tech sales engineer Steve Collins dies at 66
A longtime LGBTQ marching band member
Steven Lee Collins, a technical sales engineer for high tech companies in the Northern Virginia area and an active member and supporter of the local LGBTQ marching band DC Different Drummers for 30 years, died March 23 at Virginia Hospital Center from complications associated with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, according to his husband Mike Merena. He was 66.
Merena said Collins, who had a master’s degree in engineering administration, worked in a discipline known as microscopy, which, among other things, is used to manufacture high tech scientific laboratory and engineering tools and machinery.
Collins most recently worked as a technical sales engineer since 2012 at the Northern Virginia office of ULTRA TEC Manufacturing, Inc., a firm that manufactures and sells precision equipment and other products to high tech companies in the U.S. and abroad.
Merena said that in addition to his many years of work in the high-tech industry Collins enjoyed performing as a percussionist with the D.C. Different Drummers, the local LGBTQ organization that includes several types of bands, including symphonic and jazz as well as its most well-known Marching Band.
“He was a percussionist and participated in D.C. Different Drummers productions of all types,” Merena said. “From marching in the Pride parades in D.C., Baltimore, New York City, and other cities in the Mid Atlantic to the symphonic concerts held here in D.C., the jazz combo and band, Steve was always happy to be involved and did a lot to help younger members participate in these activities as well,” Merena said.
Merena said Collins was especially honored to have performed with D.C. Different Drummers when it was included in both of President Barack Obama’s inaugural parades, which marched along Pennsylvania Avenue from the U.S. Capitol to the White House.
According to Merena, Collins was born and raised in Elkhart, Ind. He graduated from Concord High School in Elkhart in 1972 and attended Indiana’s Ball State University, where he received his bachelor’s degree in communications in 1976. He received his master’s degree in engineering administration at George Washington University in D.C. in 1985, according to his LinkedIn page.
That same year he participated in a Fairfax County continuing education program in the study of the Japanese language for business, his LinkedIn page says.
Prior to joining the ULTRA TEC firm Collins worked from 1997 to 2012 as a technical sales engineer for the South Bay Technology firm in Arlington, Va. And prior to that, his LinkedIn page says, he served as president and sales manager of the tech firm Plasma Sciences, Inc. from 1989 to 1997. Merena said Collins and his partners in the company sold it to another company in 1997.
“Steve was a very kind, loving, and caring person,” Merena said. “He was a wonderful husband, father, and brother.”
Merena said Collins loved to entertain. He said his husband helped organize parties at the couple’s house for the D.C. Different Drummers’ awards ceremony as well as events for other organizations, including the local Brother Help Thyself LGBTQ charity group and the semi-annual banquet for the bowling league the two were members of.
Collins is survived by his husband Mike Merena, his daughter Nichole Collins, his son Matthew Erin Collins, his sisters Linda Miller and Tracy Eash, and numerous nieces and nephews, friends and loved ones, Merena said.
A celebration of life for Collins, who was cremated, will be held at a time and place yet to be decided, Merena said.
Donations in Collins’ name can be made to D.C. Different Drummers at dcdd.org.
Virginia
McPike wins special election for Va. House of Delegates
Gay Alexandria City Council member becomes 8th LGBTQ member of legislature
Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the decisive winner in a Feb. 10 special election for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.
McPike, a Democrat, received 81.5 percent of the vote in his race against Republican Mason Butler, according to the local publication ALX Now.
He first won election to the Alexandria Council in 2021. He will be filling the House of Delegates seat being vacated by Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria), who won in another Feb. 10 special election for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria).
Ebbin is resigning from his Senate next week to take a position with Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s administration.
Upon taking his 5th District seat in the House of Delegate, McPike will become the eighth out LGBTQ member of the Virginia General Assembly. Among those he will be joining is Sen. Danica Roem (D-Manassas), who became the Virginia Legislature’s first transgender member when she won election to the House of Delegates in 2017 before being elected to the Senate in 2023.
“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” McPike said in a statement after winning the Democratic nomination for the seat in a special primary held on Jan. 20.
McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, has served for the past 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He said he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.
Local
Local LGBTQ groups, activists to commemorate Black History Month
Rayceen Pendarvis to moderate Dupont Underground panel on Sunday
LGBTQ groups in D.C. and elsewhere plan to use Black History Month as an opportunity to commemorate and celebrate Black lives and experiences.
Team Rayceen Productions has no specific events planned, but co-founder Rayceen Pendarvis will attend many functions around D.C. this month.
Pendarvis, a longtime voice in the LGBTQ community in D.C. moderated a panel at Dupont Underground on Feb. 8. The event, “Every (Body) Wants to Be a Showgirl,” will feature art from Black burlesque artists from around the country. Pendarvis on Feb. 23 will attend the showing of multimedia play at the Lincoln Theatre that commemorates the life of James Baldwin.
Equality Virginia plans to prioritize Black voices through a weekly online series, and community-based story telling. The online digital series will center Black LGBTQ voices, specifically trailblazers and activists, and contemporary Black queer and transgender people.
Narissa Rahaman, Equality Virginia’s executive director, stressed the importance of the Black queer community to the overall Pride movement, and said “Equality Virginia is proud to center those voices in our work this month and beyond.”
The Capital Pride Alliance, which hosts Pride events in D.C., has an alliance with the Center for Black Equity, which brings Black Pride to D.C. over Memorial Day weekend. The National LGBTQ Task Force has no specific Black History Month events planned, but plans to participate in online collaborations.
Cathy Renna, the Task Force’s director of communications, told the Washington Blade the organization remains committed to uplifting Black voices. “Our priority is keeping this at the forefront everyday,” she said.
The D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center is also hosting a series of Black History Month events.
The D.C. Public Library earlier this year launched “Freedom and Resistance,” an exhibition that celebrates Black History Month and Martin Luther King Jr. It will remain on display until the middle of March at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at 901 G St., N.W.
District of Columbia
U.S. Attorney’s Office drops hate crime charge in anti-gay assault
Case remains under investigation and ‘further charges’ could come
D.C. police announced on Feb. 9 that they had arrested two days earlier on Feb. 7 a Germantown, Md., man on a charge of simple assault with a hate crime designation after the man allegedly assaulted a gay man at 14th and Q Streets, N.W., while using “homophobic slurs.”
But D.C. Superior Court records show that prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., which prosecutes D.C. violent crime cases, charged the arrested man only with simple assault without a hate crime designation.
In response to a request by the Washington Blade for the reason why the hate crime designation was dropped, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s office provided this response: “We continue to investigate this matter and make no mistake: should the evidence call for further charges, we will not hesitate to charge them.”
In a statement announcing the arrest in this case, D.C. police stated, “On Saturday, February 7, 2026, at approximately 7:45 p.m. the victim and suspect were in the 1500 block of 14th Street, Northwest. The suspect requested a ‘high five’ from the victim. The victim declined and continued walking,” the statement says.
“The suspect assaulted the victim and used homophobic slurs,” the police statement continues. “The suspect was apprehended by responding officers.”
It adds that 26-year-old Dean Edmundson of Germantown, Md. “was arrested and charged with Simple Assault (Hate/Bias).” The statement also adds, “A designation as a hate crime by MPD does not mean that prosecutors will prosecute it as a hate crime.”
Under D.C.’s Bias Related Crime Act of 1989, penalties for crimes motivated by prejudice against individuals based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, and homelessness can be enhanced by a court upon conviction by one and a half times greater than the penalty of the underlying crime.
Prosecutors in the past both in D.C. and other states have said they sometimes decide not to include a hate crime designation in assault cases if they don’t think the evidence is sufficient to obtain a conviction by a jury. In some instances, prosecutors have said they were concerned that a skeptical jury might decide to find a defendant not guilty of the underlying assault charge if they did not believe a motive of hate was involved.
A more detailed arrest affidavit filed by D.C. police in Superior Court appears to support the charge of a hate crime designation.
“The victim stated that they refused to High-Five Defendant Edmondson, which, upon that happening, Defendant Edmondson started walking behind both the victim and witness, calling the victim, “bald, ugly, and gay,” the arrest affidavit states.
“The victim stated that upon being called that, Defendant Edmundson pushed the victim with both hands, shoving them, causing the victim to feel the force of the push,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that they felt offended and that they were also gay,” it says.
Pride flag raised at Stonewall after National Park Service took it down
Trans students not included in new India University Grants Commission equity rules
Calendar: February 13-19
FOIA lawsuit filed against State Department for PEPFAR records
Trans sports bans rooted in eugenics
I keep getting rejected on the apps
Pride flag removed from Stonewall Monument as Trump targets LGBTQ landmarks
Gay man details secret struggle with bulimia
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
