Local
LGBT contingent marches in D.C. King Day parade
Stein Club president issues King Day message
Representatives of local LGBT advocacy organizations, including students with two Gay-Straight Alliance groups from area high schools, marched together on Monday morning in city’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day Parade.
With city residents watching from the sidewalks, the LGBT contingent joined other parade goers in walking about two miles along Martin Luther King Jr. Ave., which passes through neighborhoods in Southeast and Southwest Washington.
“It was the first Martin Luther King Day parade we’ve had in eight years,” said gay activist Nick McCoy, who helped organize the LGBT contingent on behalf of the D.C. LGBT Community Center.
“We were well received. We chanted and cheered all the way up MLK Boulevard to make sure we had a good LGBT presence,” McCoy said.
Among the LGBT groups participating in the parade were the LGBT Community Center; the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest LGBT political group; the D.C. Coalition of Black Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Men and Women; and Gay-Straight Alliance groups from D.C.’s School Without Walls and Arlington, Va.’s Washington-Lee High School.
McCoy, a member of the D.C. Center’s board, and Anna Bavier, a Center volunteer, coordinated the LGBT participation in the parade with the parade’s organizing committee, which was headed by Denise Rolark Barnes, editor and publisher of the Washington Informer newspaper.
Last month, Barnes said she was in full support of a call by gay activist and Ward 8 community leader Phil Pannell for LGBT organizations to participate in the parade. Pannell also served on the organizing committee.
“I think it was really good for the LGBT community to come out here to be seen in support of Dr. King’s message and also to let everybody see we’re here, we’re present and really just part of the overall community,” said Stein Club President Lateefah Williams.
Last year Williams, an attorney, became the first black lesbian to be elected president of the Stein Club, which was founded more than 30 years ago.
“Dr. King’s message for justice and equality still rings true today,” Williams said in a statement released by the Stein Club.
“While the District’s LGBT community has won many key struggles, including marriage equality, it is important to remember that there are still segments of our community who are struggling,” she said. “Too many youth in our city are still being put out of their homes for coming out as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Too many transgender people in our city are being targeted by violence.”
Williams added, “Dr. King said, ‘An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity.’ As we honor Dr. King today, it is important to remember that we must continue to fight so that the entire community can live safe, happy, healthy lives. We must ensure that all of humanity is treated with respect and has the necessary resources to thrive as human beings.”
Among the public officials participating in the parade were D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray (D); D.C. Police Chief Kathy Lanier; D.C. Council Chair Kwame Brown (D-At-Large); and D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8), in whose ward the parade took place.
Rehoboth Beach
BLUF leather social set for April 10 in Rehoboth
Attendees encouraged to wear appropriate gear
Diego’s in Rehoboth Beach hosts a monthly leather happy hour. April’s edition is scheduled for Friday, April 10, 5-7 p.m. Attendees are encouraged to wear appropriate gear. The event is billed as an official event of BLUF, the free community group for men interested in leather. After happy hour, the attendees are encouraged to reconvene at Local Bootlegging Company for dinner, which allows cigar smoking. There’s no cover charge for either event.
District of Columbia
Celebrations of life planned for Sean Bartel
Two memorial events scheduled in D.C.
Two celebrations of life are planned for Sean Christopher Bartel, 48, who was found deceased on a hiking trail in Argentina on or around March 15. Bartel began his career as a television news reporter and news anchor at stations in Louisville, Ky., and Evansville, Ind., before serving as Senior Video Producer for the D.C.-based International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union from 2013 to 2024.
A memorial gathering is planned for Friday, April 10, 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the IBEW International Office (900 7th St., N.W.), according to a statement by the DC Gay Flag Football League, where Bartel was a longtime member. A celebration of life is planned that same evening, 6-8 p.m. at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.).
District of Columbia
D.C. Council member honored by LGBTQ homeless youth group
Doni Crawford receives inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award
About 100 people turned out Tuesday evening, April 7, for a presentation by D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation of its inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award to D.C. Council member Doni Crawford (I-At-Large) for her support for the foundation’s mission to support homeless LGBTQ youth.
Among those who attended the event was Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, who delivered an official proclamation issued by Bowser declaring April 7, 2026 “A Day of Remembrance for Wanda Alston.”
Alston, a beloved women’s and LGBTQ rights activist, served as the city’s first director of the then newly created Office of LGBTQ Affairs under then-Mayor Anthony Williams from 2004 until her death by murder on March 16, 2005.
To the shock and dismay of fellow LGBTQ rights advocates, police and court records reported Alston, 45, was stabbed to death inside her Northeast D.C. house by a man high on crack cocaine who lived nearby and who stole her credit cards and car. The perpetrator, William Martin Parrott, 38, was arrested by D.C. police the next day and later pleaded guilty to second-degree murder. He was sentenced in July 2005 to 24 years in prison.
Crawford was among those attending the award event who reflected on Alston’s legacy and outspoken advocacy for LGBTQ and feminist causes.
“I am deeply humbled and honored to receive this inaugural award,” Crawford told the Washington Blade at the conclusion of the event. “I think the world of Wanda Alston. She has set such a great foundation for me and other Council members to build on,” she said.
“Her focus on inclusivity and intersectionality is really important as we approach this work,” Crawford added. “And it’s going to guide my work at the Council every day.”
Crawford was appointed to the D.C. Council in January of this year to replace then Council member Kenyan McDuffie (I-At-Large), who resigned to run for D.C. mayor as a Democrat. She is being challenged by four other independent candidates in a June 16 special election for the Council seat.
Under the city’s Home Rule Charter written and approved by Congress, the seat is one of two D.C. Council at-large seats that cannot be held by a “majority party” candidate, meaning a Democrat.
A statement released by the Alston Foundation last month announcing Crawford’s selection for the Wanda Alston Legacy Award praised Crawford’s record of support for its work on behalf of LGBTQ youth.
“From behind the scenes to now serving as an At-Large Council member, she has fought fearlessly for affordable housing, LGBTQ+ funding priorities, and racial justice,” the statement says. “Council member Crawford’s leadership reflects the same courage and conviction that defined Wanda’s legacy.”
Organizers of the event noted that it was held on what would have been Wanda Alston’s 67th birthday.
“Today’s legacy reception was a smashing success,” said Cesar Toledo, the Alston Foundation’s executive director. “Not only did we come together to celebrate Wanda Alston on her birthday, but we also were able to raise over $10,000 for our homeless LGBTQ youth here in D.C.,” Toledo told the Blade.
“In addition to that, we celebrated and we acknowledged a rising star in our community,” he said. “And that is At-Large Council member Doni Crawford, who we named the inaugural Wanda Alston Legacy Award recipient.”
At the request of D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) the Council voted unanimously on Jan. 20, 2026, to appoint Crawford to the Council seat being vacated by McDuffie.
Council records show she joined McDuffie’s Council staff in 2022 as a policy adviser and later became his legislative director before McDuffie appointed her as staff director for the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development for which McDuffie served as chair.
Calendar: April 10-16
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