District of Columbia
Independent at-large D.C. Council candidates endorse LGBTQ rights at forum
Race considered only contest on ballot with uncertain outcome
Four of the five independent candidates running in the Nov. 8 election for two at-large D.C. Council seats expressed strong support for LGBTQ rights at a virtual candidates forum Monday night, Oct. 17, sponsored by the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
The D.C. LGBTQ Democratic group limited the forum to the five independent candidates running against a Democrat, Republican, and a Statehood Green Party candidate for two at-large seats, one of which must go to a non-majority party candidate under D.C.’s election law.
The four independents who participated were incumbent D.C. Council member Elissa Silverman (I-At-Large), attorney Karim D. Marshall, businessman Fred Hill, and former corporate manager and small business advocate Graham McLaughlin. The fifth independent running, incumbent D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-Ward 5), was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict, according to Capital Stonewall Democrats President Jatarious Frazier.
Frazier noted that the Stonewall Dems group has endorsed the other at-large incumbent Council member, Anita Bonds, a Democrat. He said the group decided against endorsing a second at-large candidate on grounds that the other candidate would be running against the group’s Democratic endorsee.
But Frazier said Capital Stonewall Democrats decided to organize the forum to help its members and other LGBTQ voters decide whom to support for the second at-large Council seat that cannot go to a Democrat.
Both Bonds and McDuffie have longstanding records of support on LGBTQ related issues. With all the at-large candidates having expressed support on LGBTQ issues, local activists have said LGBTQ voters will likely select the two candidates they vote for based on non-LGBTQ issues.
The remaining two of the eight at-large Council candidates on the ballot are Republican Giuseppe Niosi, who marched in D.C.’s Capital Pride Parade in June, and Statehood Green Party candidate David Schwartzman, who has expressed support for LGBTQ rights.
The two co-moderators of the forum, Rebecca Bauer, a member of the board of the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, and Larry Miller, WUSA 9 TV anchor and morning show host, asked the candidates questions on a wide range of both LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ issues.
Longtime D.C. political observers point out that with the city’s overwhelmingly Democratic electorate, the Democratic candidate running for mayor – incumbent Mayor Muriel Bowser – and incumbent Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), along with the Democrats running for Council seats in Wards 1, 3, 5, and 6 are all considered odds-on favorites to win. Among them is gay Ward 5 Democratic candidate Zachary Parker, who is considered the strong front-runner in the Ward 5 race.
It’s just the at-large race, where only one Democrat is allowed to run, in which the outcome is uncertain, observers have said.
Among the independent candidates appearing at the Capital Stonewall Dems forum on Monday, which was broadcast over Zoom and which Frazier said will be available for viewing online, McLaughlin was the only one who claimed to have worked directly with LGBTQ organizations and LGBTQ people in his role as an advocate for homeless youth.
“In a nation where 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ, and that number is pretty high into one’s 20s as well, I opened my home to a member of that community who was homeless,” McLaughlin told the forum. “I have partnered and walked with individuals who are of color and who are in the LGBTQ community to be able to help launch businesses,” he said, adding that he has collaborated with the Trevor Project, a national organization that provides suicide prevention and crisis intervention services for LGBTQ young people.
Silverman, Marshall, and Hill each told of their own efforts to improve the services that city agencies provide for LGBTQ youth and seniors.
Following is a Washington Blade transcript of the opening remarks of each of the four who participated in the Capital Stonewall Democrats forum.
Fred E. Hill (Independent)
Thank you so much for the invitation to share with you this evening. My name is Fred Hill. I’m Number 3 on the ballot. And I’m an independent running in this race for at-large. Many know that I’m a 25-year successful business owner here in the city and a veteran and a father and a grandfather.
More importantly, for my standing for the last 25 years is my desire to change this government. We have watched how the government right now is running almost as a failing enterprise and it does not consider the concerns and the management of money and the trust of the residents here in the District of Columbia. I seek to change that. I bring the courage, the understanding and knowledge of what is needed on this Council right now.
We have watched where public safety, housing, and education all have been the same concerns in the last four years repeating itself again. So, I should tell everyone that those who were on the Council in its entirety did not do what the people needed and it’s time to make a change for that. Again, my name is Fred Hill. I’m Number 3 on the ballot and I’m asking for one of your two votes. Thank you.
Karim D. Marshall (Independent)
Good afternoon. And thank you to the Stonewall Dems for hosting this event for independents. It is a pleasure to be here before the only political organization in the city that’s named after a righteous riot. My name is Karim D. Marshall. I’m running to be the next at-large Council member and I’m asking for one of your two votes. I’m Number 2 on the ballot. I’m a third generation Washingtonian, a proud product of the District of Columbia public school system, a graduate of Dartmouth College and an American law school.
But most importantly, I’m a father and a husband. I’m currently general counsel for a nonprofit foundation and a professor of environmental justice. But before that, I had more than a decade of experience for the District of Columbia government, writing laws, implementing programs, and advancing equity. I know what this government does well, what it does poorly, and I know how to make broken systems work to serve the residents of our city.
I wish we could stay together in person and talk about the issues that will be covered today in the detail they deserve. But I will do my best to put as much information into each answer as possible. I’m looking forward to hearing about what your community needs to be successful and what could be improved in protection and service programs, what our nonprofits can be doing more effectively to serve you, and what the government can be doing to meet the needs before they become a crisis.
Again, my name is Karim Marshall. I’m number two on the ballot and I’m asking for one of your two votes.
Graham McLaughlin (Independent)
Hello, and I echo Karim in saying thank you to the Stonewall Dems for hosting this and letting us have important discussions on some of these critical issues for the city. You have two votes, as you know. And it really comes down to who do you think has the head and the heart to deliver the results that this city needs, and the LGBTQ community needs. From a heart perspective in a nation where 40 percent of homeless youth are LGBTQ, and that number is pretty high into one’s 20s as well. I opened my home to a member of that community who was homeless.
When we’re in a country, unfortunately, that still, if you are an LGBTQ person of color, you have lower wages, harder opportunities to become employed, etcetera. I have partnered and walked with individuals who are of color and who are in the LGBTQ community to be able to help launch businesses. From a head level, I lead a help equity program focused on critical issues that we’re going to talk about today. I’ve partnered with the Trevor Project to ensure that LGBTQ youth of color who desire the same access to mental health service as their white peers but have significantly less access to it, would be able to receive those same services and would have the outreach necessarily by culturally competent support professionals to do so.
Having shared that 18 percent of transgender individuals who are turned away from care would not do so at a health level. I’ve been doing this work significantly. I’d love the opportunity to be able to do it in government.
D.C. Council member Elissa Silverman (Independent)
Good evening, Rebecca and Jatarious and Larry and everyone watching. My name is Elissa Silverman. And for the last eight years I have been serving you as an at-large Council member. I’m the incumbent. I’m an independent. And I am as well asking you for one of your two votes. I’m asking you to return me back to the Council for another four years.
I’ve worked my heart out these last eight years in trying to make life better for working families, including LGBTQ working families in this city. I think a lot of people know me for paid family leave and the benefits that brings to LGBTQ families. Beyond that, as the Labor chair I’ve had a real focus on making sure people have access to good living wage jobs. And I’ve also been able to survive these past two years in COVID.
I have a big focus on oversight, which is clear, as Colby King said, being kind of a solitary voice in trying to highlight the issues with the D.C. Housing Authority. I think we can spend your tax dollars better so our city can be more equitable and just. And I ask for one of your votes to do that.
The Capital Stonewall Democrats’ independent candidate forum can be viewed in its entirety here.
District of Columbia
Capital Stonewall Democrats set to celebrate 50th anniversary
Mayor Bowser expected to attend March 20 event
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, members of the D.C. Council, and local and national Democratic Party officials are expected to join more than 150 LGBTQ advocates and supporters on March 20 for the 50th anniversary celebration of the city’s Capital Stonewall Democrats.
A statement released by the organization says the event is scheduled to be held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building at 702 8th St., N.W. in D.C.
“The evening will honor the people who built Capital Stonewall Democrats across five decades – activists who fought for rights when the odds were against them, public servants who opened doors and refused to let them close, and a new generation of leaders ready to carry the work forward,” the statement says.
Founded in 1976 as the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the organization’s members voted in 2021 to change its name to the Capital Stonewall Democrats.
Among those planning to attend the anniversary event is longtime D.C. gay Democratic activist Paul Kuntzler, 84, who is one of the two co-founders of the then-Gertrude Stein Democratic Club. Kuntzler told the Washington Blade that he and co-founder Richard Maulsby were joined by about a dozen others in the living room of his Southwest D.C. home at the group’s founding meeting in January 1976.
He said that among the reasons for forming a local LGBTQ Democratic group at the time was to arrange for a then “gay” presence at the 1976 Democratic National Convention, at which Jimmy Carter won the Democratic nomination for U.S. president and later won election as president.
Maulsby, who served as the Stein Club president for its first three years and who now lives in Sarasota, Fla., said he would not be attending the March 20 anniversary event, but he fully supports the organization’s continuing work as an LGBTQ organization associated with the Democratic Party.
Steven McCarty, Capital Stonewall Democrats’ current president, said in the statement that the anniversary celebration will highlight the organization’s work since the time of its founding.
“Capital Stonewall Democrats has been fighting for LGBTQ+ political power in this city for 50 years, electing people, training organizers, holding this community together through some really hard moments,” he said. “And right now, with everything going on, that work has never mattered more. This gala is the first moment of our next chapter, and I want the community to be a part of it.”
The statement says among the special guests attending the event will be Democratic National Committee Vice Chair Malcolm Kenyatta, who became the first openly gay LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other guests of honor, according to the statement, include Mayor Bowser; D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5, the Council’s only gay member; D.C. Council member Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as Deputy Director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; Rayceen Pendarvis, longtime D.C. LGBTQ civic activist; and Phillip Pannell, longtime D.C. LGBTQ Democratic activist and Ward 8 civic activist.
Information about ticket availability for the Capital Stonewall Democrats anniversary gala can be accessed here: capitalstonewalldemocrats.com/50th
District of Columbia
Owner of D.C. gay bar Green Lantern John Colameco dies at 79
Beloved businessman preferred to stay ‘behind the scenes’
John Colameco, owner of the popular D.C. gay bar Green Lantern, has died, according to a March 7 announcement posted on the bar’s website and Instagram account. The announcement didn’t provide a date of his passing or a cause of death.
Green Lantern manager Howard Hicks said Colameco was 79 at the time of his passing.
“It is with great sadness that Green Lantern announces the death of our beloved owner, John Colameco,” the announcement says. “Most of our patrons might have heard John’s name, but might not have known his face,” it says.
“He was a ‘behind-the-scenes’ kind of guy who avoided the limelight,” the announcement continues. “He preferred to stay in the back of the house with staff and team ensuring everything was running smoothly so that everyone out front was having a good time.”
The announcement adds, “As a veteran and businessman, John wasn’t a member of the LGBTQ + community, but he was one of the best damn allies our community has ever had.”
It says he “long provided spaces for the queer community to come together” since the 1990s when he owned and operated a popular restaurant on 17th Street, N.W. called Peppers.
According to the announcement, Colameco and his then business partner Greg Zehnacker opened the Green Lantern in 2001 in an alley off of 14th Street, N.W., between Thomas Circle and L Street, N.W.
The announcement points out that the Green Lantern first opened in the same location in the early 1990s before it later closed when the original owners decided to purchase and open other bars, one of which was the gay bar Fireplace near Dupont Circle. Colameco and Zehnacker were able to reopen the bar with the Green Lantern name.
“When Greg died unexpectedly in February 2014, John remained steadfastly committed to carrying on their vision and ensuring that Green Lantern remained part of the fabric of D.C.’s queer community,” the announcement says.
“Over the years, through Green Lantern, John has provided support to many community organizations, most notably Stonewall Sports, the Gay Men’s chorus of Washington, and ONYX Mid-Atlantic with Green Lantern serving as a gathering hub for their activities,” it states.
The announcement adds that Colameco’s family was planning a memorial for him in his hometown of Philadelphia.
“His Green Lantern family will celebrate his life by operating the bar as usual and we encourage you to stop by and join us,” it says. “Community coming together and having a good time – it’s exactly what John would want.”
District of Columbia
D.C. Black Pride theme, performers announced at ‘Speakeasy’
Durand Bernarr to headline 2026 programming
The Center for Black Equity held its 2026 DC Black Pride Theme Reveal event at Union Stage on Monday. The evening, a “Speakeasy Happy Hour,” was hosted by Anthony Oakes and featured performances by Lolita Leopard and Keith Angelo. The Center for Black Equity organizes DC Black Pride.
Kenya Hutton, Center for Black Equity president and CEO, spoke following the performances by Leopard and Angelo. Hutton announced this year’s theme for DC Black Pride: “New Black Renaissance.”
Performers for 2026 DC Black Pride were announced to be Bang Garcon, Be Steadwell, Jay Columbus, Bennu Byrd, Rue Pratt and Akeem Woods.
Singer-songwriter Durand Bernarr was announced as the headliner for the 2026 festivities. Bernerr gave brief remarks through a video played on the screen at the stage.
DC Black Pride is scheduled for May 22-25. For more information on DC Black Pride, visit dcblackpride.org.
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