Local
Comings & Goings
Painter elected chair of Library of Congress GLOBE
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2018/03/Travis_Painter_460x470_courtesy_Painter.jpg)
![Jeffrey Taylor, Comings & Goings, gay news, Washington Blade](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2015/09/opportunity_insert_by_Bigstock.jpg)
The ‘Comings & Goings’ column chronicles important life changes of Blade readers.
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
![Jeffrey Taylor, gay news, Washington Blade](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2018/03/Jeffrey_Taylor_insert_courtesy_Taylor.jpg)
Jeffrey Taylor
Congratulations to Jeff Taylor recently awarded the 2017Ā Top Individual Agent of the TTR Sotheby’s International Realty Downtown Brokerage. Taylor is a Realtor Associate with 14 years of real estate sales experience.
He began his real estate career in Texas, with Zane Anderson Real Estate in Bryan, Texas. After relocating to D.C., he said, āhis passion for real estate grew, as did his love for the city, its architecture, and its people.ā Taylor is known for his local expertise, strategic marketing efforts, and his commitment to achieving an unsurpassed level of service to his clients.
He has been featured in Washington Life, Capitol File, and the Washington Post for his historic home and condominium sales in Dupont Circle, Logan Circle, Columbia Heights, Shaw, LeDroit Park, and Bloomingdale, where he resides with his family.Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā
Congratulations also to Travis Painter, elected chair of Library of Congress Globe (LC GLOBE). LC GLOBE is an educational, recreational and cultural organization for LGBT employees in the Library of Congress. LC GLOBE promotes cognizance in areas that are of interest to LGBT employees while supporting positive working relationships among employees of all sexual orientations.
Painter said, āour goal for 2018 is to form a close relationship with the other LGBT organizations on the Hill and leverage our staff to effect the most positive change for our LGBT staff and members.ā He is currently the Interpreting Services Program Manager at the Library of Congress. In that role he also serves as the libraryās Director of Accessibility and provides agency-wide accessibility and disability sensitivity training for senior management and all new employees.
Painter was appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser as a member of the Commission for Persons with Disabilities. He is a Nationally Certified Sign Language Interpreter, and a member of Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). Heās a former president of Eastern Kentucky Universityās American Sign Language Association. He received his bachelorās in American Sign Language Interpreter Training from Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ken.
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Travis Painter
Congratulations also to Ben de Guzman, the new Community Outreach Relations Specialist for the Mayorās Office of LGBTQ Affairs. In this role, he will work to connect LGBTQ residents of the District of Columbia to city government agencies, services, and programs.
De Guzman recently served as one of the co-chairs of the Host Committee for the Task Forceās 2018 Creating Change Conference, the nationās largest LGBT social justice conference.Ā He coordinated programming and services for LGBT elders, people with disabilities, and people of color for the conferenceās 30th anniversary.
Prior to working in the Mayorās Office he was National Managing Coordinator for the Diverse Elders Coalition, where he advocated for policies and programs that improved lives for aging people of color; American Indians and Alaska Natives and LGBT people. He coordinated local and national strategies to bring the voices of diverse constituencies to the 2015 White House Conference on Aging. He also served for almost 10 years as principal staff at the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance, where he managed the policy and programmatic work for NQAPIA and its federation of 40 Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian, and Pacific Islander LGBT groups around the country.
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Ben de Guzman
Virginia
Man went on āhomophobic rantā inside Va. pub that displayed Pride flags
Suspect arrested on charges of public intoxication, assaulting police officer
![](https://www.washingtonblade.com/content/files/2024/07/Justin_Wayne_Hendricks_mugshot_insert_courtesy_Fairfax_County_Police_Department.jpg)
The Hawk & Griffin British Pub located in Vienna, Va., posted a message on Facebook last week saying a man was arrested after going on a āhomophobic rantā inside the pub on June 28 when he saw that LGBTQ Pride flags were displayed at the pub for Pride month.
āLast night we had an incident here at the pub when a man came off the street to accost patrons in our beer garden because of our flags displayed for pride month,ā the Hawk & Griffin Facebook posting says. āHe then spit on our windows and came inside to confront our staff and patrons with homophobic rants,ā the posting continues.
āOur manager and staff handled the situation very professionally and police were called to investigate and later arrested a man a couple of blocks away,ā the message says. āWe want to thank the Vienna Police Department for their quick response. We are and will continue to be community focused and we will never stop working to create and maintain a place of inclusion and tolerance,ā the statement concludes.
Vienna police charged Justin Wayne Hendricks, of no known address, with misdemeanor counts of being ādrunk in publicā and providing false identification to a police officer and with a felony count of assault on a police officer. A police spokesperson said Hendricks was also found to be in violation of an outstanding arrest warrant from Alexandria, Va., related to a prior charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
The spokesperson, Juan Vazquez, said Hendricks is currently being held without bond at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center. Online records for the Fairfax County General District Court show that Hendricks is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing on Oct. 9.
āOn Friday, June 28, around 9:28 p.m. the Vienna Police Department responded to reports of an intoxicated individual threatening customers of the Hawk & Griffin,ā a Vienna police statement says. āUpon the arrival of the officers the individual had already left the premises but was promptly located at an address nearby,ā according to the statement.
The statement adds that Hendricks was subsequently charged with being drunk in public, providing false information about his identity to police, and assault on a police officer along with being served with the outstanding warrant related to the prior charge in Alexandria of failing to register as a sex offender.
Details of the prior sex offender charge couldnāt immediately be obtained from online court records. However, the online records show that Hendricks has at least a dozen or more prior arrests between 2014 and 2023 on charges including public intoxication, trespassing, and failing to register as a sex offender.
Police spokesperson Vazquez said it would be up to prosecutors with the office of the Fairfax County Commonwealthās Attorney to determine if a subsequent hate crime related charge would be filed in the case.
Virginia
Parades, community events held to mark Pride Month in Va.
Upwards of 30,000 people attended PrideFest in Norfolk on June 22
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Activists across Virginia last month held a series of events to mark Pride Month.
Hampton Roads Pride, a volunteer-run organization founded in 1997, held 37 different Pride events throughout the region in June.
Their biggest event, PrideFest, which is part of their larger three day event, Pride Weekend, celebrated its 36th anniversary on June 22. Pride Weekend took place from June 21-23 and began with a block party at NorVa in Norfolk.
PrideFest took place at Town Point Park, and an estimated 30,000 people attended. More than 70 venders participated, while Todrick Hall and Mariah Counts are among those who performed.
Another PrideFest event with a DJ in the afternoon and live music at night took place in Virginia Beach on June 23. Congressman Bobby Scott and U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) are among those who attended Pride events in Suffolk on June 30.
Norfolk Mayor Kenneth Alexander, along with members of the Norfolk and Virginia Beach City Councils, also attended the Pride events in their respective cities. Jamar Walker, the first openly gay federal judge in Virginia, also took part.
āYou know people all throughout Pride Month, at all of our various events, tell me all kinds of stories about their own experiences and the past of this community … and some of our older folks especially, remember when we couldn’t have this,ā Hampton Roads Pride President Jeff Ryder told the Washington Blade on Monday during a telephone interview.
āIt was a great year,ā he added. “It was a big achievement for us to have unique celebrations in each of our seven communities. Each of these cities is so different from one another, but to be able to create a Pride celebration that’s unique in each of those places was really great, and I think really well received by folks who may not have felt represented previously. We’re always trying to do better, to embrace every aspect of our community, and take a big step forward there this year.ā
State Dels. Adele McClure (D-Arlington County) and Alfonso Lopez (D-Arlington County) are among those who spoke at Arlington Pride that took place at Long Bridge Park on June 29. The Fredericksburg Pride march and festival took place the same day at Riverfront Park in Fredericksburg.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin on June 10 hosted a Pride Month reception in Richmond.
Youngkin in previous years has hosted Pride Month receptions, even though Equality Virginia and other advocacy groups have criticized him for supporting anti-LGBTQ bills.
The Republican governor in March signed a bill that codified marriage equality in Virginia. Youngkin last month vetoed a measure that would have expanded the definition of bullying in the state.
Baltimore
Baltimore street named in honor of trans activist
Iya Dammons is founder of support groups Safe Haven in Baltimore, D.C.
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Baltimore city officials and LGBTQ activists participated in a ceremony on June 29 officially dedicating the renaming of a street in honor of transgender woman Iya Dammons, who founded and serves as executive director of the LGBTQ services organization Maryland Safe Haven.
A section of Baltimoreās 21st Street at the intersection of North Charles Street, where the Maryland Safe Haven offices are located, has been renamed Iya Dammons Way.
The ceremony took place six years after Dammons founded Maryland Safe Haven in 2018 and one year after she launched a Safe Haven operation in D.C.in 2023 located at 331 H St., N.E.
A statement on its website says Safe Haven provides a wide range of supportive services for LGBTQ people in need, with a special outreach to Black trans women ānavigating survival modeā living.
āThrough compassionate harm reduction and upward mobility services, advocacy support, and community engagement, we foster a respectful, non-judgmental environment that empowers individual agency,ā the statement says. āOur programs encompass community outreach, a drop-in center providing HIV testing, harm reduction, PrEP, medical linkage, case management, and assistance in accessing housing services,ā it says.
Among those participating in the street renaming ceremony were Baltimore City Council member Zeke Cohen, interim director of Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scottās Office of LGBTQ Affairs Alexis Blackmon, and Dominique Morgan, an official with the national foundation Borealis Philanthropy, which provides financial support for transgender supportive nonprofit organizations, including Safe Haven.
āThis is a significant achievement and historic moment for our city,ā a statement by Maryland Safe Haven announcing the ceremony says. āIya Dammons has been a tireless advocate for transgender rights and has worked tirelessly to provide safe spaces and resources for transgender individuals in our city,ā it says. āThis honor is well-deserved, and we are thrilled to see her contributions recognized in such a meaningful way.ā
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