Category Archives: District of Columbia

HUD secretary speaks to gay Realtors

Shaun Donovan

‘HUD and this administration have taken historic steps in the area of housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality,’ said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan told members of a gay Realtors group on May 15 that HUD will release next month a first-of-its-kind study of housing discrimination against same-sex couples.

In remarks before a meeting in Washington of the National Association of Gay & Lesbian Real Estate Professionals, Donovan said the upcoming release of the study comes after HUD has adopted during the Obama administration a series of policies and rules that seek to ban housing-related discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in federal housing programs.

“HUD and this administration have taken historic steps in the area of housing to ensure that we fulfill our nation’s commitment to equality,” Donovan said.

He praised the NAGLREP for its successful effort to persuade the National Association of Realtors, the nation’s largest trade association, to amend its code of ethics in 2010 to oppose discrimination in the real estate profession based on sexual orientation.

Boca Raton, Fla., gay Realtor Jeff Berger, founder and chair of NAGLREP, said that at the group’s request, the NAR’s Professional Standards Committee and board of directors last year approved a proposal to further amend its code of ethics by adding gender identity as a protected class. The NAR’s membership is expected to vote on the gender identity proposal at the NAR’s national meeting later this year in San Francisco.

Donovan said the HUD study of housing discrimination against same-sex couples is based on 6,833 email responses from participants of a survey conducted in 50 metropolitan markets across the country from June through October 2011.

“I know it will be an important study both for what it tells us and for the increase in light that it shines on this problem,” he said.

Earlier this year HUD reached what Donovan called an historic legal settlement with Bank of America over an allegation that the bank’s lending division refused to approve a mortgage for a lesbian couple based on the couple’s sexual orientation and marital status.

According to Donovan, the couple provided all of the necessary loan application documents. He said Bank of America initially had no problem with the applicant listing her partner’s mother as a co-applicant on the loan.

“Then one business day prior to closing B&A denied the mortgage because it did not consider the loan applicant and the co-applicant directly related because the state didn’t recognize same-sex marriage,” Donovan said.

He said after HUD opened an investigation into loan denial, Bank of America agreed to a settlement in which it would pay the maximum possible penalty. It also agreed to “notify its residential mortgage loan originators, processors and underwriters of this agreement with HUD,” said Donovan.

“The agreement is the first enforcement action taken against a lender under this new rule and sends a strong signal to the lending industry that we will not tolerate discrimination in HUD programs on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or marital status,” he said.

Berger said NAGLREP provides a national referral service for helping members of the LGBT community and others find LGBT or LGBT-friendly real estate agents. He said the organization has real estate agents and professionals in the real estate industry throughout the country, including in the D.C. area. Information about the referral service is available at naglrep.com.

Did you see Zachary Quinto at Cobalt last night?

The District is abuzz over sightings of Zachary Quinto at Cobalt last night.

Cobalt’s Twitter account snapped this pic of the new Spock

And of course #DCGAYZ Tumbler has already spun it into gold

Poetry makes connections between cultures

Mention poetry, and, unless you’re a poet, memories of dull high school English classes (think “only God can make a tree” from “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer) or images of recluses reciting their poems while floating in the clouds will likely come to mind. W. H. Auden, a gay, great, non-reclusive poet, famously said that poetry doesn’t legislate. No matter how good, a poem, by itself, won’t end poverty or bigotry.

Yet, despite its limitations and negative cultural baggage, poetry rocks today! On May 19, Split This Rock (SplitThisRock.org), a Washington, D.C.-based, national poetry organization that works for social change will celebrate its fifth anniversary at a gala featuring Richard Blanco, the poet of Obama’s 2013 inauguration. At the event, Blanco, the first openly gay man and Latino, to be a presidential poet, and Grace Cavalieri, host of the public radio show “The Poet and the Poem,” will discuss what it was like behind the scenes at the inauguration. Blanco, a son of Cuban immigrants and the author of three poetry collections including “Looking for the Gulf Motel,” who lives with his partner Mark in Bethel, Maine, will read from his work and the DC Youth Slam team will perform at the gala.

Since its founding, Split This Rock has been a haven for progressive poets — from youth to elders to people of color to LGBT folk to people with disabilities. Trying to do what you can to enhance social change is seldom easy. Embracing differences can be difficult. Yet, as a legally blind, queer poet, I’m one of many (from straight men to teens) who have found STR to be one of the most LGBT friendly, genuinely diverse communities in which to do the hard work of making poetry and fighting for social justice.

“When we founded Split This Rock, we were deeply honored when the brilliant lesbian feminist poet and activist Adrienne Rich wrote to us, ‘Thank you for your belief in the freeing power of language and action,’” Split This Rock director Sarah Browning e-mailed the Blade. “LGBT poets like Richard Blanco create freedom by… telling the truth about their lives.”

Queer courage lights the way within the progressive poetry movement, guiding all of us to a new world based on justice and beauty, Browning said.

You don’t have to live in the clouds, teach or even have an M.F.A. degree to be a poet, but you need to be talented and brave. Anyone can use language, Cavalieri, a poet and playwright, e-mailed the Blade, “but to become a poet, language must use courage.”

Blanco, who earned an M.F.A. degree in creative writing from Florida International University and received the Beyond Margins Award from the Pen American Center for his collection “Directions to the Beach of the Dead,” is a talented and courageous poet. “At the barricades of society, Blanco didn’t set out to become an ‘inaugural poet,’” Cavalieri said. “He just began writing to tell his truth with as much detail and invention as the heart could hold.”

In his youth, Blanco was discouraged from being queer. “Stop eyeing your mother’s Avon catalog/ and the men’s underwear in those Sears flyers,” he writes in his poem “Queer Theory: According to my Grandmother,” “…Avoid hugging men, but if you must/pat them real hard on the back, even/if it’s your father.”

Poetry has the power to galvanize people because it brings out our humanity in ways that other genres don’t, Blanco said in a telephone interview with the Blade. “I see poetry as a kind of mirror in which everyone can see themselves.”

Why is there a disconnect between poetry and many who aren’t poets? “Because … people aren’t taught enough contemporary poetry,” Blanco said. “I went all through college without reading contemporary poetry.”

Poetry makes connections between cultures, Blanco said.

Dare to see yourself in the mirror of poetry. Check out Split This Rock.

New AIDS group debuts as NAPWA successor

Frank Oldham, NAPWA, National Association of People With AIDS, National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, gay news, Washington Blade

Frank Oldham, Jr. is the former CEO of NAPWA, which closed in bankruptcy earlier this year. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

A newly created national coalition called Pozitively Healthy will advocate for people with HIV and AIDS following the closing in February of the 30-year-old National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA), according to the coalition’s organizers.

In a May 10 statement, organizers said the new coalition will be an arm of the Washington, D.C.-based national AIDS group HealthHIV, which will manage the coalition’s finances and infrastructure.

“Pozitively Healthy’s mission is to ensure the strong independent voice of the 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States,” the statement says.

It says the coalition will advocate for “access to quality health care and the most impactful prevention, care and treatment services in this era of health reform implementation.”

The statement says organizations, including the Names Project Foundation associated with the national AIDS Quilt, and AIDS-related publications will be a part of the coalition in addition to individuals.

“Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the Pozitively Healthy coalition will develop and drive an advocacy and education agenda to address issues impacting People Living With HIV/AIDS, with special attention to African-American MSM [men who have sex with men], women, and transgender populations,” the statement says.

Brian Hujdich, executive director of HealthHIV, said HealthHIV and organizers of Pozitively Healthy are inviting AIDS activists and their supporters from throughout the country to apply for membership on a national steering committee created to set the coalition’s agenda and mission.

He said organizers are also inviting activists and others supportive of the coalition’s efforts to become members of the coalition. He said membership is free. Information about Pozitively Healthy and a sign-up form to become a member is available at HealthHIV.org.

Five members of the steering committee, which had 16 members as of early this week, are former officials at NAPWA, including NAPWA’s former executive director and CEO Frank Oldham.

Veteran Washington State AIDS activist Judi Billings, a former NAPWA board chair, has been named co-chair of the Pozitively Healthy steering committee.

David Waggoner, founder and publisher of the Albany, N.Y.-based national AIDS magazine A&U, has been named as the other co-chair.

The prominent role being played by former NAPWA officials and staffers prompted AIDS activists and bloggers Michael Petrelis of San Francisco and Greg Milward of Wisconsin to raise concern, saying events leading up to NAPWA’s financial collapse and bankruptcy took place under their watch.

With creditors owed more than $750,000, NAPWA filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy at the time it announced it was shutting its doors permanently in February.

Oldham announced his resignation from his post as NAPWA’s executive director and CEO in October and left the organization in November before news of the impending bankruptcy surfaced. A document filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Maryland lists Oldham as owing NAPWA more than $80,000 in “accounts payable.”

Oldham and all other former officials at NAPWA have declined to comment on any of the details that surfaced in the public records associated with the bankruptcy filing.

Stephen Bailous, NAPWA’s former deputy executive director and a current member of Pozitively Healthy’s steering committee, told the Blade shortly after the bankruptcy filing that NAPWA’s financial problems stemmed from the organization’s difficulty in raising funds during the downturn in the economy, which he said led to a mounting debt.

Hujdich of HealthHIV told the Blade that Oldham, Billings and the other former NAPWA officials were named to the Pozitively Healthy steering committee because of their years of experience in AIDS-related matters and their distinguished record of advocacy for people with AIDS.

He said that similar to all members of the steering committee, the former NAPWA officials’ role in the coalition would be limited to policy and advocacy matters.

“We’re handling the management of it so that we’ll handle everything financial and any infrastructure with regards to how to help support it,” Hujdich said.

“As it relates to the way NAPWA was managed, none of the former NAPWA board or staff members that are part of the coalition are connected in any way to the running of the coalition financially,” he said. “And so they have no role in anything fiscal.”

According to Hujdich, Pozitively Healthy will operate as an all-volunteer entity, with a membership and most steering committee members located throughout the country.

Added Hujdich, “There shouldn’t be an issue about their involvement. And all the more reason — not just those who were involved with NAPWA but others who are long committed to HIV advocacy — why wouldn’t we want to include their voice and give them an opportunity to do this?”

Just three days after the announcement of the creation of Pozitively Healthy, Oldham testified on behalf of the new coalition at a D.C. City Council hearing on Tuesday.

The hearing, before the Council’s Committee on Health, reviewed the city’s implementation of President Obama’s healthcare reform program related to insurance exchanges created to enable consumers to select affordable health insurance policies.

Capital Pride honors local advocates

Ed Baily, Town Danceboutique, No. 9, gay news, Washington Blade

Ed Baily (Washington Blade file photo)

Capital Pride organizers this week announced the recipients of their annual awards. Winners of the “heroes” awards are: Ed Bailey, longtime community volunteer, DJ and business owner; Barbara Lewis, an advocate for culturally competent healthcare since the 1970s; Darren Phelps, founding pastor of Bethel Christian Church D.C.; Jamie Raskin, Maryland state senator; and Margot Rosen, HRC’s director of membership outreach.

There are two recipients of the Engendered Spirit award: Consuella Lopez, a local activist, stylist, business owner and radio show host; and Hassan Naveed, co-chair of Gays & Lesbians Opposing Violence. The Bill Miles Award went to Jennifer Hall and the Larry Stansbury Award winner is Dignity/Washington. The winners will be honored at an event May 29. Visit capitalpride.org/heroes for details.

Trans birth certificate bill set for hearing

D.C. Council, Phil Mendelson, David Catania, Washington Blade, Gay News

D.C. Council members Phil Mendelson and David Catania (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Two D.C. Council committees were scheduled to hold a joint hearing Thursday, May 16, on a bill that would enable transgender people to obtain a new rather than amended birth certificate to reflect their new gender.

The JaParker Deoni Jones Birth Certificate Equality Amendment Act of 2013 was co-introduced by seven Council members, including Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Council member David Catania (I-At-Large).

Another five Council members, including Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, leaving Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) as the only one on the 13-member Council not to either introduce or co-sponsor the bill.

The bill calls for amending the city’s Vital Records Act of 1981 “to require the Registrar to issue a new certificate of birth designating a new gender for any individual who provides a written request and signed affidavit from a licensed health-care provider that the individual has undergone a gender transition, to require that an original an original certificate be sealed when a new certificate is issued.”

The bill also exempts an individual from an existing city law requiring that a name change application be published in a local newspaper if the name change is “requested in conjunction with a request to change the individual’s gender designation.”

Representatives of the D.C. Trans Coalition, which has taken the lead role in lobbying for the bill, and the Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, were expected to testify at the hearing and to call for some changes in the bill’s wording.

Gray holds LGBT Youth Summit

Vince Gray, Washington D.C., Gay News, Washington Blade

D.C. Mayor Vince Gray. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

About 80 people turned out on Saturday, May 11, for D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray’s First Annual LGBT Youth Summit, which was held at the Eastern Market’s meeting hall on Capitol Hill.

Those attending the event appeared to be equally divided between high school age youth and adults, including city officials, teachers and school administrators.

Gray served as moderator of the event, presenting opening remarks outlining the city’s policies and laws that support LGBT equality and fielding questions from the youth.

“We had modest goals – that is to give the youth a chance to be able to express who they are and to talk about some of the challenges of what it means to be gay, bisexual, transgender, and lesbian in our city,” Gray told the Blade after the summit ended.

“And the second goal was to be able to communicate that the mayor’s office, the highest office in this government, is not going to tolerate any kind of discrimination and bias in the city,” he said.

Among the city officials that spoke at the event were Sterling Washington, director of the Mayor’s Office of GLBT Affairs; Elliot Imse, an official with the Office of Human Rights; and Sgt. Matthew Mahl, acting supervisor of the D.C. police Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.

Imse said the Office of Human Rights has launched an anti-bullying program that allows youth, including students, to file complaints against people who bully them.

Also speaking at the event was Andrew Barnett, executive director of the D.C. LGBT youth advocacy and services group SMYAL.

DeQuan Barclift, a 10th grade student at Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism and Media Arts, said he experienced bullying beginning in the third grade.

“I’ve been called the famous ‘F’ word for faggot,” he said. “I’m used to the word. It doesn’t affect me.”

Barclift added, “If anyone here has been bullied my advice to you would be hold your head up.”

He said he’s had a more positive experience in high school, noting that he recently wrote a letter to his school newsletter telling about his coming out.

“I got more positive feedback than negative feedback,” he said.

Will ‘land swap’ displace LGBT Center again?

Reeves Building, D.C. Center, gay news, Washington Blade

Reeves Building (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

As the D.C. LGBT Community Center gets ready to move into its new home in the Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Street, N.W. unconfirmed reports have surfaced that the city is considering turning the building over to a developer as part of a high stakes land swap.

According to an article in the local blog Greater Greater Washington, the Akridge development company would demolish the Reeves building under the terms of the land swap to make way for an upscale condominium and retail development project in the highly desirable U Street, N.W. corridor.

The city, in return, would obtain from Akridge vacant land it owns in the Buzzards Point section of Southwest Washington near the Anacostia River, which would become the site for a new stadium for the D.C. United Soccer team.

“I don’t know anything about it so I’m not going to comment at this time,” said LGBT Center President Michael Sessa, who earlier this year signed a 15-year lease for the Center’s rental of space in the Reeves building.

Although the city would most likely provide some compensation to the Center for the early termination of its lease, the Center would be forced to undergo another search for a home at a time when property values are rising sharply in the city.

Greater Greater Washington and other news outlets have reported that a land swap involving the Reeves Center and other older city buildings to facilitate the building of a soccer stadium was under discussion between city officials, Akridge, and D.C. United. But the news outlets have not identified their sources for the reports.

“We do not comment on anonymously sourced articles,” said Darrell Pressley, a spokesperson for the D.C. Department of General Services, which oversees city properties.

But Pressley added, “We are continuing our discussions with D.C. United about a stadium and we’re hopeful about their future in the District. Commenting beyond that is premature at this point.”

Blade to host town hall with mayor

Kevin Naff, Vince Gray, LGBT Town Hall, Wilson Building, Mayors Office for GLBT Affairs, Gay News, Washington Blade

LGBT Town Hall (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray will meet with the local LGBT community later this month at a town hall forum sponsored by the Washington Blade. In the third annual event, Mayor Gray will be interviewed by Blade reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. in front of a live audience. Attendees will be able to ask their own questions of the mayor, as well.

The event is open to the public and scheduled for Friday, May 31 at 7 p.m. in room G-9 of the Wilson Building (1350 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.).

Queery: Holly Goldmann

Holly Goodmann, Trans Pride, gay news, Washington Blade

Holly Goodmann (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Holly Goldmann says she can’t stay serious for more than a few minutes at a time. With a world-weary quip, she’s off in a million directions.

While she likes being a board member at The Center, she says the meetings can be tedious.

“After an hour, yeah, I’m like — OK, let’s wrap it up here,” she says with a laugh.

Her work with Capital TransPride over the past three years got her noticed by The Center, whose staff was looking for trans representation on its board. She’s happy to serve but says she’s “really bad” at being secretary where taking minutes is required.

“I had no idea until recently that I had any talent for activism of any kind but apparently I’m good at bringing communities together,” she says. “I’m white, passable, over-glamorous yet not a drag queen. People love me — I can’t help it, that’s the reality.”

Capital TransPride is Saturday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. at National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, N.W.). Guest Codie Leone, a big-time New York stylist, will speak and many other events are planned. Visit capitalpride.org/transpride for a full schedule.

Goldmann, who freelances as an independent designer by day, says, “It’s really important for trans people to get under one roof and not really worry about pretense.”

“It’s not political and it really gives us a chance to talk about issues,” she says.

Goldmann, a native New Yorker who’s been in Washington “15 years, maybe more,” is vague on details. She admits only to being “between 30 and death” and says she transitioned “a really long time ago.”

She lives in Columbia Heights and enjoys fashion history, “golden age” Hollywood and high-end fashion collecting in her free time as well as dissecting the nuances of “Mommie Dearest.”

How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?

Since I was 18 but everyone knew.

Who’s your LGBT hero?

Holly Woodlawn

What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present? 

The old Ziegfelds/Secrets. I rarely go out any more.

Describe your dream wedding.

Never thought of it.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Preservation of society in general.

What historical outcome would you change?

WWII — but I may not have been born.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?

“AbFab” coming back a third time!

On what do you insist?

A concrete schedule and answers to questions in a reasonable time.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

A picture of Little Edie and Big Edie for Mother’s Day.

If your life were a book, what would the title be? 

“How I Gave Up on My Dream to Marry a Millionaire”

If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

Right away? Nothing. I’d have to wait and see how it’s used.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world? 

Heaven

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

Honestly the LGB need to start being more T accepting and stop making decisions on our behalf.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

To get loved ones who have passed away back.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

Oh, there are far too many.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

“Some of My Best Friends Are”

What’s the most overrated social custom?

I still write thank you cards.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

The Tony

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

To put myself on the 20-year wait list for a rent controlled apartment in New York City.

Why Washington?

Was bored and came to visit a friend. Never went back.