District of Columbia
D.C. voters’ guide: Council, school board, Initiative 83 on ballot
Harris poised to win city’s three electoral votes next week
In a city whose voters, including LGBTQ voters, are overwhelmingly Democratic, D.C. Democratic elected officials – including four members of the D.C. Council and D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton – are considered the strong favorites to win re-election in the city’s Nov. 5 election.
Also expected to win is gay Ward 2 D.C. State Board of Education member Allister Chang, who is running unopposed on the ballot for re-election to a second four-year term in office.
Chang is one of two out gay members serving in a D.C. elective office other than Advisory Neighborhood Commission position. The other gay non-ANC elected official is D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), who won election to the Council in 2022.
Like all D.C. elections over the past 30 years or longer, nearly all candidates with any chance of winning have either a strong record of support for LGBTQ rights or have expressed support for the LGBTQ community.
The only exception to the city’s history of electing to office pro-LGBTQ candidates is the U.S. presidential candidates who are on the D.C. ballot every four years, including this year. Republican presidential candidates with a less than supportive record on LGBTQ issues, including Donald Trump, have won election as president, while losing by a wide margin in D.C
D.C. voters on Nov. 5 are expected to vote in overwhelming numbers for Democratic presidential contender Kamala Harris and her vice-presidential running mate Tim Walz, providing the Harris-Walz ticket with D.C.’s three electoral votes.
Also on the D.C. election ballot on Nov. 5 is Initiative 83, a controversial proposal calling for creating a ranked choice voting system in D.C. and open primaries, which would allow independents to vote in the city’s primary elections that are currently open to only registered Democrats, Republicans, and Statehood-Green Party members.
LGBTQ activists, similar to voters in general, appear to be divided over whether to support or oppose the initiative. Among its strongest supporters is longtime local gay Democratic activist Philip Pannell, who is serving as treasurer of the committee leading the campaign in support of the measure called Make All Votes Count DC.
Among the D.C. Council seats up for election on Nov. 5 are the two At-Large seats held by Democrat Robert White and independent Christina Henderson. Under the D.C. Home Rule Charter, one of the two At-Large Council seats, cannot be held by a member of the city’s majority party, which is the Democratic Party.
Robert White and Henderson have been longtime LGBTQ rights supporters. Both were endorsed this year by the Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest local LGBTQ political group. The two are being challenged by Republican Rob Simmons and Statehood-Green Party candidate Darryl Moch. Under D.C. election law, voters can vote for two candidates on the ballot for the two At-Large seats, with the highest two vote getters declared the winners.
Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4), who have also been strong LGBTQ community supporters, are running unopposed for re-election.
In Ward 7, Democrat Wendel Felder is running against Republican Noah Montgomery for the seat being vacated by incumbent Council member and former D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D), who LGBTQ activists consider one of the strongest LGBTQ supporters among city elected officials.
Similar to many city voters, LGBTQ Democrats have struggled over who to support in the Ward 8 D.C. Council race in which incumbent Trayon White (D) was indicted earlier this year on federal bribery charges. White’s indictment came after he won the Democratic primary by a wide margin. His only opponent on the Nov. 5 election ballot is Republican Nate Derenge, although five others are running against him as write-in candidates.
At an LGBTQ community candidates forum in September organized by Team Rayceen Productions and the Washington Blade, Derenge told the Blade he is generally supportive of efforts to ban discrimination against all minorities, but he opposes city government offices that he said are catering to “special interest groups.”
Among the offices he would call for disbanding, he said, were the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs and the other mayoral constituent offices such as the Latino, African American, Asian American, and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Affairs offices.
The Capital Stonewall Democrats decided against making an endorsement in the Ward 8 race, with Trayon White becoming the only Democrat on the D.C. election ballot that the group has not endorsed, even though White has a record of support for the LGBTQ community. Political observers, noting White is a beloved figure in Ward 8, are predicting that White will likely win re-election, although by a smaller margin than his past election wins.
Chang, meanwhile, is among six candidates running for re-election or election to the D.C. State Board of Education, which is a nonpartisan body under the city’s Home Rule Charter.
The others running include the board’s president and Ward 7 member Eboni-Rose Thompson, who is being challenged by candidate Toni Criner; the board’s vice president and at-large member Jacque Paterson, who is also running unopposed; and Ward 4 member Frazier O’Leary, who is being challenged by candidate T. Michelle Colson.
“I will say every single one of the current members has been supportive of my efforts to push forward more inclusive LGBTQ standards, our educational standards,” Chang told the Washington Blade, referring to the incumbent members, including those running for re-election. He said Ward 8 candidate LaJoy Johnson-Law has also been a strong supporter of LGBTQ school related issues.
In the race for D.C. Congressional Delegate, longtime incumbent Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) is being challenged by Republican Myrtle Patricia Alexander, Statehood Green Party candidate Kymore Freeman, and independent candidate Michael A. Brown.
Brown, a former D.C. Council member and LGBTQ rights supporter, has said he has been a longtime admirer of Norton, and he believes she has done an excellent job representing D.C. in Congress on a wide range of issues, including LGBTQ issues. But he told the Blade he thinks a change is needed after Norton’s 33 years in office. Among other things, he said he would be more aggressive in representing D.C. interests before Congress.
Members of the Capital Stonewall Democrats, like many D.C. residents, have said Norton’s long record as a champion for D.C., including the LGBTQ community, merits that she be re-elected as D.C. Congressional Delegate.
Democrat Ankit Jain and longtime D.C. Republican candidate Nelson Rimensnyder are competing to replace Democrat Michael D. Brown as D.C. U.S. Senator, a position known as the city’s Shadow Senate seat. Incumbent U.S. Rep. Oye Owolewa, who holds the office known as the D.C. Shadow U.S. House seat, is being challenged by Republican Ciprian Ivanof.
Jain and Owolewa, who have been endorsed by Capital Stonewall Democrats, are expected to win their races with the city’s “deep blue” Democratic electorate.
GLAA D.C, formerly known as the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, has issued ratings this year for just four of the 10 D.C. Council candidates running in the Nov. 5 election. Under a recently adopted policy, GLAA limits its ratings to candidates that complete and return a GLAA questionnaire, which asks candidates to respond to mostly non-LGBTQ specific issues that GLAA says have an impact on LGBTQ residents like all other D.C. residents.
But unlike GLAA, Team Rayceen Productions has conducted video interviews of nearly all the candidates on the D.C. election ballot, including D.C. Council, school board, Congressional Delegate, and shadow House and Senate candidates.
The video interviews can be accessed at Team Rayceen’s YouTube channel. The GLAA questionnaire and candidate ratings can be accessed at glaa.org.
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.
In an official statement released at the reveal event Capital Pride Alliance described its just announced 2026 Pride theme of “Exist, Resist, Have the Audacity” as a “bold declaration affirming the presence, resilience, and courage of LGBTQ+ people around the world.”
The statement adds, “Grounded in the undeniable truth that our existence is not up for debate, this year’s theme calls on the community to live loudly and proudly, stand firm against injustice and erasure, and embody the collective strength that has always defined the LGBTQ+ community.”
In a reference to the impact of the hostile political climate, the statement says, “In a time when LGBTQ+ rights and history continue to face challenges, especially in our Nation’s Capital, where policy and public discourse shape the future of our country, together, we must ensure that our voices are visible, heard, and unapologetically centered.”
The statement also quotes Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President Ryan Bos’s message at the Reveal event: “This year’s theme is both a declaration and a demand,” Bos said. “Exist, Resist, Have Audacity! reflects the resilience of our community and our responsibility to protect the progress we’ve made. As we look toward our nation’s 250th anniversary, we affirm that LGBTQ+ people have always been and always will be part of the United States’s history, and we will continue shaping its future with strength and resolve,” he concluded.
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.
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