District of Columbia
Destination DC participates in Florida travel conference
State’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law has prompted boycott calls
Like many corporate accounts during the month of June, Destination DC’s twitter handle currently sports a bright, rainbow-colored logo. One of the first pop-ups on its website is a list of “can’t miss” Pride events, proclaiming the organization’s celebration of Pride Month.
However, just days before D.C. Pride was scheduled to begin, Destination DC travelled to Orlando, Fla. — a city home to heated debate over Florida’s recently signed “Don’t Say Gay” law — for the 22nd annual U.S. Travel Association IPW Conference.
The conference that Destination DC attended last week was described on the IPW website as “the travel industry’s premier international marketplace bringing together major industry players and buyers from around the world.” Destination DC President CEO Elliot Ferguson said the group stayed true to its mission of inclusivity while at the conference.
“At IPW specifically, we partnered with the International LGBTQ+ Travel Association on its pride reception, an annual fundraiser for the IGLTA Foundation since 2017,” said Ferguson in a statement. “IGLTA works to bring more awareness to safety and equality for LGTBQ travelers. Its foundation provides scholarship funds for emerging students as well as grant programing for new and small LGBTQ+ businesses across the globe.”
Ferguson’s statement did not specify where exactly the funding for Destination DC’s conference travel came from; but he said that the group is a private, nonprofit organization funded by less than 1 percent of D.C.’s hotel tax (a tax paid when people check into hotels.)
Ultimately, Ferguson argued that “weaponizing travel by boycotting destinations always hurts those in our industry who are the most vulnerable and need paychecks.”
However, the move to boycott states in response to discriminatory legislation is not unprecedented, and sometimes it can lead to meaningful legislative change.
Boycotts were a central feature of the civil rights movement, which spurred the passage of many legal protections on which LGBTQ people depend on today. In 2021, boycotts and corporate backlash followed Georgia’s passage of a restrictive voting rights bill. After North Carolina passed an anti-transgender “bathroom bill” in 2017, the state’s financial losses from corporate boycotts were estimated at a staggering $3.76 billion.
So why are companies still flocking to Florida for lucrative conferences, and how are they justifying their travel?
This year marked the eighth time Orlando has hosted the IPW conference — more than any other city — and the relationship between businesses and Florida has a long history of being both amicable and lucrative. If banning discussions of sexual orientation and gender identity in classrooms won’t spur a corporate boycott, what will?
“Florida destinations, travel businesses and attractions from the Panhandle to the Keys remain some of the most open and welcoming places in our country for all travelers in and to our nation, evidenced by inclusive campaigns and events, Pride Days, and direct outreach to the LGBTQ+ community,” said a U.S. Travel Association spokesperson in an emailed statement to the Washington Blade. “Meeting together, face-to-face, to conduct business and learn from one another is a core function of the travel industry and a value that we uphold.”
While meeting in-person for a conference is certainly a valid goal for many, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’s notably homophobic rhetoric begs the question if Florida is really as “open and welcoming” — at least legislatively — as the U.S. Travel Association claims.
DeSantis’s administration seems unbothered by the idea that their legislation might be off putting to some corporations.
Press Secretary Christina Pushaw recently told Forbes “if anyone actually boycotts Florida because they’re upset about the lack of sex and gender theory instruction in our kindergarten through third grade classrooms, I’m confident that our state is better off without them.”
Corporations like Destination DC tread a fine line between being present to advocate for LGBTQ people and indirectly (and financially) supporting Florida’s recent anti-LGBTQ+ legislation. However, according to Ferguson, in the case of IPW 2022, the need for participation won out — even though it was in Florida.
“Wherever we are in the world, we embrace and promote D.C.’s diverse community and we’re proud that it includes a large LBGTQ+ population,” said Ferguson. “Our sales and media missions are opportunities to reiterate that we are unapologetically inclusive and welcome the world to Washington, D.C.”
The Blade has reached out to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office for comment.
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.
District of Columbia
D.C. police arrest man for burglary at gay bar Spark Social House
Suspect ID’d from images captured by Spark Social House security cameras
D.C. police on Feb. 18 arrested a 63-year-old man “of no fixed address” for allegedly stealing cash from the registers at the gay bar Spark Social House after unlawfully entering the bar at 2009 14th St., N.W., around 12:04 a.m. after it had closed for business, according to a police incident report.
“Later that day officers canvassing for the suspect located him nearby,” a separate police statement says. “63-year-old Tony Jones of no fixed address was arrested and charged with Burglary II,” the statement says.
The police incident report states that the bar’s owner, Nick Tsusaki, told police investigators that the bar’s security cameras captured the image of a man who has frequently visited the bar and was believed to be homeless.
“Once inside, the defendant was observed via the establishment’s security cameras opening the cash register, removing U.S. currency, and placing the currency into the left front pocket of his jacket,” the report says.
Tsusaki told the Washington Blade that he and Spark’s employees have allowed Jones to enter the bar many times since it opened last year to use the bathroom in a gesture of compassion knowing he was homeless. Tsusaki said he is not aware of Jones ever having purchased anything during his visits.
According to Tsusaki, Spark closed for business at around 10:30 p.m. on the night of the incident at which time an employee did not properly lock the front entrance door. He said no employees or customers were present when the security cameras show Jones entering Spark through the front door around 12:04 a.m.
Tsusaki said the security camera images show Jones had been inside Spark for about three hours on the night of the burglary and show him taking cash out of two cash registers. He took a total of $300, Tsusaki said.
When Tsusaki and Spark employees arrived at the bar later in the day and discovered the cash was missing from the registers they immediately called police, Tsusaki told the Blade. Knowing that Jones often hung out along the 2000 block of 14th Street where Spark is located, Tsusaki said he went outside to look for him and saw him across the street and pointed Jones out to police, who then placed him under arrest.
A police arrest affidavit filed in court states that at the time they arrested him police found the stolen cash inside the pocket of the jacket Jones was wearing. It says after taking him into police custody officers found a powdered substance in a Ziploc bag also in Jones’s possession that tested positive for cocaine, resulting in him being charged with cocaine possession in addition to the burglary charge.
D.C. Superior Court records show a judge ordered Jones held in preventive detention at a Feb. 19 presentment hearing. The judge then scheduled a preliminary hearing for the case on Feb. 20, the outcome of which couldn’t immediately be obtained.
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