Local
Attorney says invalidating Stein Club election would violate bylaws
Dispute over club takeover by influx of new members to be debated at special meeting Wednesday night
Martin Garcia, newly-elected president of the Stein Club. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
An attorney representing Martin Garcia, the president-elect of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, said a proposal by several club members to invalidate Garcia’s election and the election of two other officers aligned with Garcia would “flagrantly” violate the club’s bylaws.
Joseph E. Sandler, former general counsel to the Democratic National Committee, said in a Dec. 17 letter to Stein Club members that a call to overturn the election of Garcia and the two other officers by disqualifying 17 people who voted in the club’s Dec. 3 election would be a “breach of contract.”
He said a legal opinion by Donald Dinan, an attorney for the D.C. Democratic State Committee, whom the Stein Club’s current officers consulted about the election, incorrectly interpreted the bylaws.
Dinan stated in a Dec. 12 memorandum that the votes by 17 people could be invalidated if the addresses they gave were not correct or if it could be shown they did not qualify for the special reduced membership fee of $15 under which they joined the club in the week prior to the election.
Under club rules, eligibility for the special membership is restricted to students, senior citizens, and people with a “limited income.”
Dinan noted that the 17 votes cast by people whose membership is now under question is greater than the two to seven-vote margin in which Garcia and the other two officer candidates won the election. He said that since the vote was conducted by secret ballot, there is no way to determine which candidates received votes by a potentially disqualified member.
Thus Dinan concluded that if the Stein Club membership decides at the special meeting set for Wednesday night to disqualify a number of new members that exceeds the margin of victory for the three officers, the club has the authority to invalidate the election and call a new election.
Sandler, however, argues that the club’s bylaws do not provide any residency requirements for members and do not define “limited income” or whether a “student” should be full-time, part-time, or someone enrolled in a trade school rather than a college.
In addition, Sandler states in his letter, “The Dinan Memorandum… simply does not set forth any remotely reliable facts that would indicate that any of the 17 new members whose votes are being questioned were other than legitimate, dues-paying members of the Stein Club, under the Bylaws and Standing Rules of Procedure, at the time of the election.”
He said the club’s current officers and members should know that the club “is not free to ignore its own bylaws, or to make up new rules not found in the bylaws, to the detriment of certain members, whenever it seems convenient to do so.”
Dinan told the Blade that his memorandum was not a fact finding document and it was up to the club’s officers or members to make any determination on whether the 17 new members should be disqualified based on “irregularities” over their residential address or special membership qualification.
Sandler noted that Dinan cited specific claims of problems associated with the new members’ addresses and special membership status brought to Dinan’s attention by the club’s current officers. None of the issues about membership status raised could be grounds for disqualifying a member under the bylaws.
Sandler suggested in his letter that Garcia and the other two candidates who won election to the club’s vice presidential posts – Angela Peoples and Vincent Villano – would have grounds to take legal action against the club if their elections are overturned.
“[I]t is Mr. Garcia’s position that any decision to invalidate the December 3 election and/or to hold another election would be a flagrant violation by the Stein Club of its own bylaws, a violation that obviously directly injures Mr. Garcia, and that would constitute action ultra vires and in breach of contract,” he says in his letter.
“Ultra vires” is a Latin term used to say a corporation or entity went “beyond the powers” or authority they have to take a certain action, according to BusinessDictinary.com.
Garcia told the Blade on Tuesday that he and the other new officers have no intention of taking legal action against the club.
“That would not be beneficial to anyone involved in the club,” he said. “Our hope is to build unity and move forward with greater participation by folks who haven’t been involved.”
“After reading Mr. Sandler’s memo, I am more convinced that this special meeting is an attempt to push new members out of the election process,” Garcia said in a statement on Tuesday. “The Stein Club founders stood against the disenfranchisement of LGBT people, and I believe that, when presented with all the information, today’s Stein members will stand together at the special meeting and vote to move us forward as a united organization.”
Virginia
DOJ seeks to join lawsuit against Loudoun County over trans student in locker room
Three male high school students suspended after complaining about classmate
The Justice Department has asked to join a federal lawsuit against Loudoun County Public Schools over the way it handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.
The Washington Blade earlier this year reported Loudoun County public schools suspended the three boys and launched a Title IX investigation into whether they sexually harassed the student after they said they felt uncomfortable with their classmate in the locker room at Stone Bridge High School in Ashburn.
The parents of two of the boys filed a lawsuit against Loudoun County public schools in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria. The Richmond-based Founding Freedoms Law Center and America First Legal, which White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller co-founded, represent them.
The Justice Department in a Dec. 8 press release announced that “it filed legal action against the Loudoun County (Va.) School Board (Loudoun County) for its denial of equal protection based on religion.”
“The suit alleges that Loudoun County applied Policy 8040, which requires students and faculty to accept and promote gender ideology, to two Christian, male students in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,” reads the press release.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release said “students do not shed their First Amendment rights at the schoolhouse gate.”
“Loudoun County’s decision to advance and promote gender ideology tramples on the rights of religious students who cannot embrace ideas that deny biological reality,” said Dhillon.
Outgoing Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and outgoing Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares in May announced an investigation into the case.
The Virginia Department of Education in 2023 announced the new guidelines for trans and nonbinary students for which Youngkin asked. Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups claim they, among other things, forcibly out trans and nonbinary students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in February launched an investigation into whether Loudoun County and four other Northern Virginia school districts’ policies in support of trans and nonbinary students violate Title IX and President Donald Trump’s executive order that prohibits federally funded educational institutions from promoting “gender ideology.”
District of Columbia
Capital Pride announces change in date for 2026 D.C. Pride parade and festival
Events related to U.S. 250th anniversary and Trump birthday cited as reasons for change
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, has announced it is changing the dates for the 2026 Capital Pride Parade and Festival from the second weekend in June to the third weekend.
“For over a decade, Capital Pride has taken place during the second weekend in June, but in 2026, we are shifting our dates in response to the city’s capacity due to major events and preparations for the 250th anniversary of the United States,” according to a Dec. 9 statement released by Capital Pride Alliance.
The statement says the parade will take place on Saturday, June 20, 2026, with the festival and related concert taking place on June 21.
“This change ensures our community can gather safely and without unnecessary barriers,” the statement says. “By moving the celebration, we are protecting our space and preserving Pride as a powerful act of visibility, solidarity, and resistance,” it says.
Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance CEO and President, told the Washington Blade the change in dates came after the group conferred with D.C. government officials regarding plans for a number of events in the city on the second weekend in June. Among them, he noted, is a planned White House celebration of President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250th anniversary, which are expected to take place from early June through Independence Day on July 4.
The White House has announced plans for a large June 14, 2026 celebration on the White House south lawn of Trump’s 80th birthday that will include a large-scale Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event involving boxing and wrestling competition.
Bos said the Capital Pride Parade will take place along the same route it has in the past number of years, starting at 14th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14th Street to Pennsylvania Ave., where it will end. He said the festival set for the following day will also take place at its usual location on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 2nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7th Street, N.W.
“Our Pride events thrive because of the passion and support of the community,” Capital Pride Board Chair Anna Jinkerson said in the statement. “In 2026, your involvement is more important than ever,” she said.
District of Columbia
Three women elected leaders of Capital Pride Alliance board
Restructured body includes chair rather than president as top leader
The Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C.-based group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced it has restructured its board of directors and elected for the first time three women to serve as leaders of the board’s Executive Committee.
“Congratulations to our newly elected Executive Officers, making history as Capital Pride Alliance’s first all-women Board leadership,” the group said in a statement.
“As we head into 2026 with a bold new leadership structure, we’re proud to welcome Anna Jinkerson as Board Chair, Kim Baker as Board Treasurer, and Taylor Lianne Chandler as Board Secretary,” the statement says.
In a separate statement released on Nov. 20, Capital Pride Alliance says the restructured Board now includes the top leadership posts of Chair, Treasurer, and Secretary, replacing the previous structure of President and Vice President as the top board leaders.
It says an additional update to the leadership structure includes a change in title for longtime Capital Pride official Ryan Bos from executive director to chief executive officer and president.
According to the statement, June Crenshaw, who served as acting deputy director during the time the group organized WorldPride 2025 in D.C., will now continue in that role as permanent deputy director.
The statement provides background information on the three newly elected women Board leaders.
• Anna Jinkerson (chair), who joined the Capital Pride Alliance board in 2022, previously served as the group’s vice president for operations and acting president. “A seasoned non-profit executive, she currently serves as Assistant to the President and CEO and Chief of Staff at Living Cities, a national member collaborative of leading philanthropic foundations and financial institutions committed to closing income and wealth gaps in the United States and building an economy that works for everyone.”
• Kim Baker (treasurer) is a “biracial Filipino American and queer leader,” a “retired, disabled U.S. Army veteran with more than 20 years of service and extensive experience in finance, security, and risk management.” She has served on the Capital Pride Board since 2018, “bringing a proven track record of steady, principled leadership and unwavering dedication to the LGBTQ+ community.”
• Taylor Lianne Chandler (Secretary) is a former sign language interpreter and crisis management consultant. She “takes office as the first intersex and trans-identifying member of the Executive Committee.” She joined the Capital Pride Board in 2019 and previously served as executive producer from 2016 to 2018.
Bos told the Washington Blade in a Dec. 2 interview that the Capital Pride board currently has 12 members, and is in the process of interviewing additional potential board members.
“In January we will be announcing in another likely press release the full board,” Bos said. “We are finishing the interview process of new board members this month,” he said. “And they will take office to join the board in January.”
Bos said the organization’s rules set a cap of 25 total board members, but the board, which elects its members, has not yet decided how many additional members it will select and a full 25-member board is not required.
The Nov. 20 Capital Pride statement says the new board executive members will succeed the organization’s previous leadership team, which included Ashley Smith, who served as president for eight years before he resigned earlier this year; Anthony Musa, who served for seven years as vice president of board engagement; Natalie Thompson, who served eight years on the executive committee; and Vince Micone, who served for eight years as vice president of operations.
“I am grateful for the leadership, dedication, and commitment shown by our former executive officers — Ashley, Natalie, Anthony, and Vince — who have been instrumental in CPA’s growth and the exceptional success of WorldPride 2025,” Bos said in the statement.
“I look forward to collaborating with Anna in her new role, as well as Kim and Taylor in theirs, as we take on the important work ahead, prepare for Capital Pride 2026, and expand our platform and voice through Pride365,” Bos said.
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