Local

D.C. mayor’s office apologizes for anti-gay group’s award

Staff error blamed for ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ to PFOX leader

Published

16 years ago

April 29, 2010

A spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty issued an apology Thursday for a mayoral Certificate of Appreciation awarded to the leader of the anti-gay group Parents & Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays known as PFOX.

PFOX characterizes homosexuality in its literature as a psychological disorder and says gays can change their sexual orientation to become heterosexual through “reparative therapy.” LGBT organizations have pointed to scientific literature refuting such claims and have denounced reparative therapy, saying it’s harmful and based on “junk science.”

“A staff level error was made when the request for the certificate in question was fulfilled,” Mafara Hobson, Fenty’s communications director, told the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance in an e-mail.

“The mayor is proud of his ardent support of the LGBT community as illustrated in his championing of the Marriage Equality legislation he signed into law on December 18, 2009,” Hobson wrote in her e-mail.

Hobson’s apology on behalf of the mayor came after GLAA and other LGBT groups learned of the November certificate from a PFOX press release. PFOX issued the press release Wednesday — some six months after the mayor’s office issued the certificate.

The certificate says, “Government of the District of Columbia — Certificate of Appreciation is hereby awarded to Regina Griggs — In recognition of your dedication, commitment and outstanding contributions as Executive Director of Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.” The document bears Fenty’s signature.

Hobson told the Washington Blade on Thursday that similar to the hundreds of honorary certificates and proclamations that the mayor’s office issues each year, the mayor’s signature was affixed to the PFOX award by an “auto pen.”

She said Fenty neither saw nor knew anything about the matter until activists brought it to the attention of the mayor’s office Wednesday.

GLAA Vice President Rick Rosendall noted that in 2007, the mayor’s office issued a ceremonial proclamation to an organization calling for abstinence until marraige as a policy for curtailing AIDS in the city. In response to complaints by LGBT and AIDS activists, the mayor’s office acknowledged the award application was not properly vetted and noted the office processing such awards would tighten its vetting process.

One District government source familiar with the newest misstep, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said a staff person within the Mayor’s Office of the Secretary, which processes ceremonial certificates and proclamations, failed to follow the standard vetting procedures required for such documents.

The source said the staffer apparently treated the PFOX application for the award for Griggs as a request to honor a private citizen for an occasion such as a 90th birthday or graduation, which calls for a less rigorous vetting.

According to the source, procedures established in the Office of the Secretary call for including the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs in the vetting of all LGBT-related applications for certificates and proclamations. Christopher Dyer, the head of the GLBT Affairs Office, was never contacted about the matter, which amounted to a breach of the procedures, said the source.

On its web site, GLLA noted that Fenty pledged during his 2006 mayoral campaign not to issue awards or ceremonial tributes to individuals and groups that advocate discrimination against minorities, including LGBT people.

Gay activist Bob Summersgill posted a message on the GLLA web site forum saying the mayor’s office did not go far enough in its apology. He noted that Hobson’s public statement did not answer GLAA’s specific questions of who in the mayor’s office approved and processed the certificate and what actions have been taken to prevent a similar development from happening again.

GLAA members also called on Fenty to issue a statement denouncing the so-called ex-gay movement that Griggs represents.

A separate District government source who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak to the media said the mayor’s office has issued numerous ceremonial tributes to LGBT organizations and events, including the Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend events.

“Our record is clear on where we stand on the LGBT community,” said that source.

But mayoral candidate and D.C. Council Chairman Vincent Gray called the decision by Fenty’s office to issue an award to the leader of anti-gay group an “embarrassment” to the city.

“For the mayor to issue a certificate of appreciation honoring an organization that has done so much to alienate so many is not only an insult to the LGBT community, it is yet another example of the insensitivity of his administration,” Gray said in a statement.

“It is an embarrassment to our city that he would make such an offensive mistake,” he said. “It was the mayor’s signature on the certificate, not a staff-member’s, and I hope the mayor will personally take responsibility.”

Gray’s decision to weigh in on the situation was expected to interject the matter into a mayoral campaign in which the LGBT community is expected to be divided between Fenty and Gray. Both politicians have strong records of support for LGBT rights.

Griggs did not return calls from the Blade seeking comment, but she told the Washington Post, “I obviously didn’t nominate myself. This was brought to the mayor by a D.C. resident, and I was given an award.”

She told the Post that ex-gays “have a right to self-determination.”

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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

Published

4 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Staff reports

Loudoun County Public Schools building. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

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

Published

10 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

A scene from the 2024 Capital Pride Festival. (Washington Blade file photo by Emily Hanna)

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 250^th 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 80^th birthday and other events related to the U.S. 250^th 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 14^th and T Streets, N.W. and traveling along 14^th 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 2^nd Street near the U.S. Capitol, to around 7^th 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

Published

4 days ago

December 9, 2025

Lou Chibbaro Jr.

Capital Pride Alliance announced three women will lead its board. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

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.