District of Columbia
D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition urges city to boost funding for queer programs
Most requests not included in mayor’s proposed 2024 budget
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition, which consists of at least 10 prominent local LGBTQ organizations and another nine LGBTQ supportive allied groups, is calling on Mayor Muriel Bowser and the D.C. Council to include about a dozen specific programs in the city’s fiscal year 2024 budget that add up to about $13.5 million in funding.
According to information provided to the Washington Blade by one of the coalition officials, which the official said was subject to change, the mayor’s proposed budget does not include the requested funding for at least 10 of the coalition’s 12 specific requests coming to a total of about $13 million.
Coalition coordinator Heidi Ellis said that among the coalition’s proposals not included in the mayor’s budget is a request for $10.5 million to fund two harm reduction and services centers to address the opioid and fentanyl drug overdose crisis impacting communities, including the LGBTQ community, across the city.
The mayor’s budget calls for $9.5 million to fund a single “stabilization & sobering center” to address the overdose crisis. But Ellis said the coalition does not consider that proposal an acceptable alternative to the coalition’s proposal for two harm reduction centers.
With the mayor’s $9.5 million “stabilization and sobering center” proposal not included as part of the coalition’s budget requests, that means the coalition believes the mayor’s budget only includes about $500,000 out of the coalition’s $13.5 million overall request.
Ellis said that in addition to not including much of the funding the coalition is asking for, the mayor’s budget includes some cuts in funding for LGBTQ-related programs that were included in the existing 2023 budget and previous year budgets. Among the cuts, Ellis said, are for a workforce program that assists transgender and gender nonconforming residents in finding gainful employment and for programs assisting LGBTQ people experiencing intimate partner violence.
One of the the coalition’s proposals that Bowser’s proposed budget does include is a request to continue to allocate at least $500,000 in funds for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs for LGBTQ community development grants.
“We share detailed budget requests that provide crucial services to the LGBTQ+ community of Washington, D.C.,” the coalition states in a nine-page letter sent to the mayor and each of the 13 members of the D.C. Council in February that outlines its specific funding proposals.
“We are a mission-driven group working to advocate for dedicated funding to support LGBTQ+ residents with a focus on trans people of color and low-income residents,” the letter says. “The Coalition has worked tirelessly for several months with the Mayor’s office, the Council, various D.C. agencies, and most importantly, the community to identify these needs,” according to the letter.
“Our recommendations reflect that work in addition to our extensive research around these issues and the broader District landscape,” it says. “We ask that the Mayor and the Council adopt our recommendations as they specifically address some of the chronic and immediate issues facing the District.”
At the time she submitted her proposed $19.7 billion F.Y. 2024 budget to the Council last month, the mayor said the city faces a projected drop in revenue of more than $390 million due, among other things, to reduced tax revenue from commercial real estate along with the end of pandemic-era federal aid to D.C. and other cities.
The projected reduction in revenue will force her and the Council to make difficult decisions on funding reductions, including at least $373 million in proposed reductions in her budget, the mayor said. Among the reductions is the proposed elimination of 749 vacant D.C. government positions.
In response to a request by the Blade for comment on the coalition’s claim that the mayor’s budget does not include most of the requests by the LGBTQ Budget Coalition, Japer Bowles, director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, provided a written statement.
“We appreciate the community and advocacy groups identifying areas of improvement and putting forward their requests,” Bowles told the Blade in his statement. “We are proud to continue all formerly funded LGBTQIA+ programs, albeit at new levels, and our agencies are dedicated to continuing to work with our many LGBTQIA+ community-based organizations and our innovative programs to add resilience and capacity in the long term,” he said.
His statement did not specifically address the coalition’s claims that most of their requests were not included in the mayor’s budget other than to say, “our budget is still feeling the impacts of the pandemic,” a reference to Mayor Bowser’s assertion that the city faces a revenue shortfall and budget cuts would be needed in the fiscal year 2024 budget.
Bowles added that the Office of LGBTQ Affairs “will be providing more training funding for LGBTQIA+ cultural competency,” as requested by the coalition. He said the mayor’s office would also be sending the D.C. Council a letter identifying “corrections and amendments” to the proposed budget, but those changes will not bring about “significant adjustments to agencies budgets related to the [coalition’s] request at this time.”
Before his appointment by Bowser to become director of the LGBTQ Affairs Office, Bowles served as coordinator of the LGBTQ Budget Coalition after playing a role in creating the coalition as an elected Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner.
Among the LGBTQ and LGBTQ supportive organizations that are members of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition are Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. Center for the LGBT Community, Capital Stonewall Democrats, the Wanda Alston Foundation, the LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL, the sex worker advocacy group HIPS, the Washington AIDS Partnership, Us Helping Us, the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance (GLAA), the ANC Rainbow Caucus, Damien Ministries, and the Latin American Youth Center.
In its nine-page letter to the mayor and the Council, the coalition included these funding requests for the 2024 budget:
• An LGBTQ+ reentry ‘Housing for All’ Pilot Program at the city’s Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants for citizens returning from incarceration — $750,000.
• Additional housing vouchers for LGBTQ+ residents for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to help support those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness — $500,000.
• Harm Reduction Services & Centers — $10.5 million. To address the “alarming” and growing number of fentanyl and opioid related drug overdose deaths in the city, this calls for funding two Harm Reduction Centers on each side of the Anacostia River that will be open 24 hours each day to “aid in eliminating the stigma around substance usage, to avoid the burden on our criminal justice system, and to, most importantly, save lives.”
• Employment & Workforce Development Programs for the Department of Human Services — $500,000. A request for an “enhancement for the Transgender & Gender-nonconforming workforce program to ensure a long-term approach to closing the employment and wage gap for T/TNC residents in the District.”
• Employment Coordinator/Employment Case Management Advocate for the Office of LGBTQ Affairs — $75,000. This position would “help LGBTQ+ residents navigate these workforce programs by serving as point of contact for community members seeking employment and those trying to access the aforementioned workforce programs.”
• Health Initiatives — no specific funding request. A call for the city’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STI, and TB Administration (HAHSTA) to take steps to reverse a trend brought about by COVID in which the number of people seeking HIV testing across the city fell by 20 percent. The city should also address “the disparity of testing in marginalized communities, specifically Black and brown women, TGNC, etc.” communities.
• Safety & Inclusive Emergency Services — $860,000. Out of this total, $60,000 for the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs to improve and expand its cultural competency training for D.C. police and D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department first responders; a total of $600,000 for the Office of Victim Services and Justice Grants to expand its services and outreach to the LGBTQ+ community for intimate partner violence, sexual assault, and hate crimes; and $200,000 to establish a Violence Prevention and Response Team (VPART) coordinator at the Office of LGBTQ Affairs to focus on anti-LGBTQ hate crimes.
• Improving Language Access & Immigration Services — $250,000 for the Department of Human Services and $100,000 for Office of LGBTQ Affairs. An increase in migrants sent to D.C. from other states, including LGBTQ+ immigrants, has created a need for more language interpretation services for those who are Limited English Proficient (LEP) or Non-English Proficient (NEP)
• Supporting the Newly Established DC LGBTQ+ Community Center — $200,000. The mayor’s office has already awarded a $1 million grant to help pay for the renovation of the section of a new building the LGBT Center will be moving into later this year. Those funds have been “exhausted,” the coalition says, for the building renovation. “The DC Center and Capital Pride Alliance, in partnership with the Coalition, are requesting $200,000 in recurring dollars to support the operating costs associated with the Center.”
In a separate letter to the D.C. Council, GLAA expressed concern that the mayor’s proposed budget calls for eliminating at least six staff positions at the D.C. Office of Human Rights (OHR). The OHR, among other things, enforces the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination against LGBTQ people.
The GLAA letter, signed by GLAA President Tyrone Hanley, calls for the budget to fund one additional OHR staff person to support the enforcement of a city law protecting tenants from unfair evictions, another new OHR staff person to address OHR’s “outdated case management system,” and one or more additional staff to help enforce the D.C. Domestic Workers Act, which supports the rights of domestic workers.
Several D.C. Council committees that oversee various D.C. government agencies were scheduled to make final recommendations to the full Council this week in a process known as a “markup” for the budget. The Council is expected to vote on its final version of the D.C. budget in May.
Full details of the coalition’s budget requests and the names of the organizations that make up the coalition can be viewed at the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition website.
District of Columbia
Wanda Alston Foundation names new executive director
Longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Cesar Toledo to succeed June Crenshaw
The Wanda Alston Foundation, the D.C.-based organization that has provided housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth since its founding in 2008, announced it has appointed longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Cesar Toledo as its new executive director.
In an April 22 statement, the organization said that as part of a planned leadership transition launched in November 2024, Toledo will succeed June Crenshaw, who Alston Foundation officials and LGBTQ community activists say has led the organization with distinction in her role as executive director for the past nine years.
In a statement released last November, the foundation announced Crenshaw was stepping down from her role as executive director after deciding to “to step into her next chapter.”
“June’s leadership has been truly transformative,” said Alston Foundation Board Chair Darrin Glymph in the group’s April 22 statement. “We are immensely grateful for her dedication and equally excited for the energy and experience that Cesar brings to lead us into this next chapter,” Glymph said.
“A seasoned LGBTQ+ advocate, Cesar brings over a decade of experience leading national campaigns, shaping public policy, and building inclusive communities,” the statement released by the group says. “Most recently, he served as the National LGBTQ+ Engagement Director for the Harris for President Campaign and has built a career focused on advancing equality and equitable education,” it says.
Biographical information about Toledo shows that immediately prior to working for the Harris For President Campaign, he served since April 2023 as deputy director for Democrats for Education Reform DC (DFER DC), a political group that helps to elect candidates for public office committed to quality education for all students, including minorities, people of color and LGBTQ youth.
Before joining DFER DC, Toledo served as political director for the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund, where he assisted in electing out LGBTQ candidates to all levels of public office across the U.S.
“I’m really excited about joining the Wanda Alston Foundation,” Toledo told the Washington Blade. “After a decade of working at the intersection of politics and policy and advancing political candidates and equitable education here in D.C., I wanted to shift my career to direct services to the most vulnerable folks in the LGBTQ+ family and our homeless youth,” he said.
Among other things, he said he would push for increasing the Alston Foundation’s visibility and mainlining its services for LGBTQ youth at a time when the national political climate has become less supportive.
A statement on its website says the Alston Foundation was founded in 2008 “in memory of Wanda Alston, a fierce LGBTQ+ activist, national advocate, and government official who was admired by District residents.”
The statement adds, “The foundation opened the first housing program in the nation’s capital in 2008 providing pre-independent transitional living and life-saving support services to LGBTQ+ youth.”
In a separate statement, the Alston Foundation announced it would hold a “thank you” celebration of appreciation for June Crenshaw from 6-8 p.m. on May 20 at Crush Dance Bar located at 2007 14th Street, N.W. in D.C.
“Let’s come together to celebrate her dedication and commitment for everything she has done for the LGBTQIA homeless youth population,” the statement says.
District of Columbia
New DC LGBTQ Center to celebrate grand opening
Permanent location in Shaw debuts with Saturday celebration
After more than 20 months of demolition, construction, and development, Washington finally has a brand new LGBTQ Center. On Saturday, April 26, the doors will officially open at the DC LGBTQ Center for the first time following the groundbreaking in June 2023.
The new DC LGBTQ Center, located one block from the Shaw Metro station, aims to educate, empower, uplift and celebrate Washington’s LGBTQ community. Spanning 6,671 square feet of intentionally designed space, the center will offer a wide range of resources for LGBTQ individuals in need – including mental health services, job readiness programs, cultural events and community support groups, all under one roof.
The space, located in The Adora building at 1828 Wiltberger St, N.W., has a food pantry, STD and HIV testing space, therapy room, boutique with a clothing closet, an ADA-accessible shower, a mailroom to help those without an address receive mail, and a large kitchen.
The new DC LGBTQ Center will also house office space for nine local LGBTQ organizations. Groups like SMYAL, which supports and uplifts LGBTQ youth, and the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides transitional housing and support services for homeless or at-risk LGBTQ youth, are central to the center’s mission: to educate, empower, uplift, celebrate, elevate and connect Washington’s LGBTQ community. The center will also become the new home of the Capital Pride Alliance, the organization behind Capital Pride and this year’s WorldPride celebration.
The Reeves Center, the former home of the DC LGBTQ Center, is slated for redevelopment. Located at 14th and U streets, N.W., the building is expected to become a mixed-use hub featuring the NAACP’s national headquarters, a hotel, restaurant, comedy club, housing and more.
On Saturday, the new DC LGBTQ Center will celebrate its grand opening with a full day of events designed to showcase the space’s potential and mark its long-awaited return. The “Friends & Family Day” celebration begins with a brunch at 10 a.m., followed by an open house featuring tours, team introductions, and a look at how the center came to life. The day concludes with a “Honey, I’m Home” cocktail celebration at 5 p.m.
Some events are open to the public, while others, such as the brunch, require an RSVP. To RSVP, visit this link or email [email protected] with any questions.
District of Columbia
Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington to celebrate Spring Affair honorees
‘Their work inspires our music and deepens our mission’
For 44 years, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington (GMCW) has served as a powerful voice for love, unity, and pride among Washington’s LGBTQ community and its allies. Since its first performance in 1981—at the opening of the National Gay Task Force’s Washington office (later becoming the National LGBTQ Task Force)—GMCW has built a politically engaged and culturally significant legacy as one of the nation’s foremost LGBTQ performing arts organizations.
As its music and mission evolved, GMCW deepened its involvement in supporting LGBTQ individuals and allies alike. In 2004, the chorus launched its first Spring Affair fundraiser. This annual event not only generates financial support for the inclusive choral group, but also honors individuals and organizations in the Washington community who exemplify GMCW’s mission of unity, equity, and empowerment through music.
Each year at the Spring Affair gala, the chorus honors one community leader, one external organization, and one GMCW member. For the 2025 gala, GMCW will recognize Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Atlas Performing Arts Center, and GMCW member Keygan Miller.
“These honorees remind us why we sing,” said Thea Kano, artistic director of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC, in an email. “In moments when our community has needed strength, they’ve offered hope. Whether it’s a brave voice from the pulpit, a tireless advocate for our youth, or an organization that opens its doors to every story—each has chosen to lead with love, truth, and courage. Their work inspires our music and deepens our mission.”
GMCW will honor Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, the first woman elected to lead the Episcopal Diocese of Washington, as its 2025 individual award recipient. A longtime champion of equity and inclusion, Bishop Budde gained national prominence during the Inaugural Prayer Service at Washington National Cathedral, where she spoke directly to newly sworn-in President Donald Trump.
“Have mercy, Mr. President,” she implored, lifting the hopes of the most vulnerable Americans targeted by Trump’s policies—particularly LGBTQ and immigrant communities. Her bold words signaled to the nation that she remains a genuine and outspoken voice for justice, unity, and truth, inspiring compassion and faith within and beyond her religious community.
GMCW will present the Harmony Award for an Organization to the Atlas Performing Arts Center, located in the historic H Street, N.E. corridor. In 2024 alone, Atlas hosted more than 400 events and provided $1.6 million in free and discounted tickets, arts education, community programming, and space use. Through this work, Atlas has amplified “artistic voices that reflect the full diversity of our community.”
The center has long partnered with GMCW, offering space for open mic nights, cabarets, GenOUT Chorus events like the Youth Summit, and even memorial services such as that for Bobby T. Boaz. Atlas exemplifies GMCW’s mission of storytelling, equity, and civic connection through programs like the INTERSECTIONS Festival and City at Peace.
“We are absolutely thrilled and deeply honored that the Atlas Performing Arts Center has been named a recipient of the GMCW Harmony Award! This recognition is a powerful affirmation of our commitment to uplifting voices, fostering inclusive creative expression, and building a space where everyone feels seen, heard, and celebrated,” said Jarrod Bennett, Executive Director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center.
“At the Atlas, our mission is rooted in the belief that the arts are for everyone—and that through performance, dialogue, and community, we can help shape a more just, compassionate world. To be acknowledged by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC—an organization that has long stood at the forefront of championing equality and advancing the well-being of the LGBTQ+ community—is a profound and humbling honor. We continue to be inspired by GMCW’s work and are proud to stand alongside them in this shared vision. Thank you, GMCW, for this beautiful recognition. We carry it forward with gratitude and renewed energy for the work ahead.”
Finally, GMCW will honor Keygan Miller, a chorus member since 2017, for their leadership, advocacy, and commitment to equity both onstage and off. Within GMCW, Miller served as Vice President of Diversity and Inclusion, led conversations to expand trans inclusion, authored the “Day One” pledge, and played a critical role in shaping inclusive programming.
Outside the chorus, Miller serves as Director of Public Training for The Trevor Project, a national nonprofit focused on crisis intervention and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth under 25. They previously worked as an Advocacy Manager at the Trevor Project, where they championed policies protecting LGBTQ+ youth at every level of government.
As GMCW continues its mission to uplift and unite through music, the organization encourages new voices to join its ranks. GMCW welcomes all singers—regardless of gender identity or sexual orientation—who can sing in the lower vocal registers.
The 2025 Spring Affair Gala will take place on May 17, 2025, at The Ritz-Carlton, Washington, D.C. This annual benefit supports GMCW’s artistic and educational programming. For tickets, audition information, and more, visit GMCW.org.
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