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The D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit has moved out of Metropolitan Police headquarters and officially opens its new office in the Sun Trust building in Dupont Circle Friday, March 11. According to Sgt. Brett Parsons, commander of the Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit, the new space allows for more privacy and spares visitors the searches and hassle often associated with visiting police headquarters. GLLU provides 24-hour response to gay residents, advises the chief of police on gay issues, serves on the Hate Crimes Task Force and conducts outreach. GLLU relies on donations for its new offices because it has no line in the city budget. It operates with donated resources and funds transferred from the chief of police’s budget. The Sun Trust Bank building has donated the use of the new office space and a local hotel has donated the mountain bikes used by patrol officers, officials said.
EARTHA MELZER
The board of directors of the Whitman-Walker Clinic voted on Feb. 22 to endorse legislation that would ban smoking in all D.C. workplaces, including bars and restaurants, Whitman-Walker spokesperson Chip Lewis said. Lewis said the clinic has postponed making a public announcement of the board’s action, with the intent of disclosing the action later this month in a joint announcement with the National Coalition for LGBT Health. Lewis confirmed the board’s action this week after the Blade learned about it through a source familiar with the clinic. The decision comes more than a year after some smoking ban advocates complained that Whitman-Walker appeared to be putting off indefinitely a decision on the matter. One of the clinic’s board members, D.C. Councilmember Carol Schwartz (R-At-Large), is an opponent of smoking ban legislation and has bottled up a smoking ban bill in the Council’s Committee on Public Works & the Environment since 2003. A coalition of gay and straight bar and restaurant owners has expressed opposition to the legislation, saying it would hurt their businesses.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Possible D.C. mayoral contender Michael Brown arranged for his supporters attending a March 4 fund-raiser to pledge to collectively volunteer more than 1,000 hours of their time to the Whitman-Walker Clinic, according to Andre Johnson, an official with Brown’s mayoral exploratory committee. Johnson said 350 people who attended Brown’s fund-raising event volunteered at least 10 hours of their time to three local charities. He said a total of 3,500 “volunteer hours” would be divided evenly among the three groups, with Whitman-Walker receiving a third of the volunteer time. Chip Lewis, a spokesperson for Whitman-Walker, said Brown informed the clinic of his plans to arrange for the volunteers. Lewis said Brown is a former Whitman-Walker board member.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Gay Arlington County Board member Jay Fisette (D) announced on March 2 that he is running for re-election. Fisette, who has been on the County Board for seven years, said that while he has had many successes, “there are still more to be had.” Fisette said he wants to continue managing the maturity of Arlington as an urban place. “The biggest challenges we have because of the desirability of Arlington are pressures on our housing stock and the pressures on small business,” Fisette said. “Those two areas always get squeezed.” The primary is scheduled for June and the general election would be Nov. 8. Fisette said he currently has no primary opponent but candidates have another month and a half to declare their intent to run. Fisette is currently serving as board chair.
JOE CREA
Mark Meinke, chair of the Rainbow History Project, said a memorial service for 83-year-old Geraldine “Jerrie” Linder, a longtime gay rights advocate, is scheduled to take place from noon to 2 p.m., on Saturday, April 2, at the Sumner School Museum & Archive, 1201 17th St., NW. By then, Meinke and others involved in the memorial effort are hopeful that legal issues preventing the removal of Linder’s body from Sibley Memorial Hospital will be resolved. The hospital has retained custody of Linder’s body since her death there on Feb. 20, after a stroke, because no one claimed it. She apparently has no surviving family members, sources familiar with her case said. Last weekend, amid community efforts to secure the release of Linder’s body, Brother, Help Thyself and other service organizations as well as HIV/AIDS service providers in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, began collecting donations in Linder’s name. By Monday, March 7, Meinke said $1,000 — the estimated cost of cremating Linder’s body — had been raised.
JOHANNA LUNGLHOFER
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