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Gay members of D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams’s staff are joining local gay activists in sponsoring a reception on Oct. 4 at the Hillwood Museum & Gardens to honor the mayor for his support for the gay community during his two terms in office. Veteran gay and AIDS activist Cornelius Baker, who Williams appointed to the D.C. Taxicab Commission, and Darlene Nipper, Williams’ director of the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs, are serving as co-chairs of the event, Baker said. “We want to thank him for all he has done and to do it earlier, before the election and the holidays,” Baker said. The event will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wed., Oct. 4, at the Hillwood Museum visitor’s center, 4155 Linnean Ave., NW.
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HOME > NEWS > LOCAL
By: LOU CHIBBARO J COMMENTS
 
If Democratic nominee Adrian Fenty wins his bid to become mayor of the District of Columbia in November, as expected, he must decide whether to retain or replace Mayor Anthony Williams’ prominent contingent of high-level openly gay officials.
Fenty must also decide whether to carry out a promise he made last year to release a controversial legal opinion prepared by gay D.C. Attorney General Robert Spagnoletti that assesses whether existing law allows the city to recognize gay marriages performed in Massachusetts.
Mayor Anthony Williams has refused to release the Spagnoletti opinion, which Spagnoletti wrote in the form of a memorandum, saying the memo could trigger efforts by Congress to bar the city from recognizing same-sex marriage in the future.
Fenty became the first D.C. mayoral candidate in the 2006 election cycle to fully embrace same-sex marriage. Similar to Williams, Fenty has said he would not push legislation in the District to legalize gay marriage until the strong opposition in Congress to gay marriage subsides.
But in November 2005, when news of the Spagnoletti memo surfaced, Fenty said he would release the memo “immediately” after becoming mayor.
Gay activist Peter Rosenstein, who serves as Fenty’s campaign issues director, said circumstances have changed since Spagnoletti wrote his memo in 2004 and that he is not sure if Fenty would release the memo in January if he is elected mayor.
Gay D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham called on Williams to release the memo shortly after Spagnoletti wrote it. Graham said this week that the memo is needed to help same-sex married couples who move to or visit D.C. from Massachusetts determine whether they have access to the same rights available to other married residents in the city.
“It’s as relevant today as it was when Mr. Spagnoletti wrote it,” Graham said. “I think Fenty should release it. Mayor Williams should release it,” he said.
Graham said he doesn’t believe the memo would be “all that provocative” to members of Congress because it offers an advisory opinion.
“It’s not challenging Congress or laying down a gauntlet,” Graham said.
Spagnoletti has said his marriage recognition memo belongs to the Office of the Mayor and that the next mayor would have full legal authority to release it, according to Tracy Hughes, a spokesperson for the attorney general’s office.
Fenty could not be reached for comment by press time. His press spokesperson, Alec Evans, said he would make inquires to determine Fenty’s current position on the Spagnoletti memo, but Evans did not call back by press time.
Republican David Kranich, a real estate agent, and Statehood-Green Party candidate Chris Otten, a computer consultant, are challenging Fenty in the Nov. 7 general election. With nearly 75 percent of the city’s voters registered as Democrats, Fenty is considered the odds-on favorite to win.
Fenty has vowed to appoint his own set of high-level gay officials to various city departments and agencies but has not said whether he would retain any of Williams’ gay appointees.
“He has not discussed any specific appointments at this time,” Rosenstein said. “But he has said he will have a very diverse government, with GLBT people in high positions.”
Prominent gay staffers
face replacement
Most new mayors in the District and other cities have replaced the high-level appointees of their predecessors with new people who have had closer political ties to the new mayors.
Any consideration by Fenty to retain Spagnoletti became moot this week. Spagnoletti informed Williams on Sept. 25 that he is resigning as attorney general effective Oct. 13 and would be joining the D.C. law firm Schertler and Onorato, spokesperson Hughes said.
Among the other Williams gay appointees that would be subjected to replacement by Fenty are Patrick Canavan, director of the Department of Consumer & Regulatory Affairs; Lars Etzkorn, acting deputy director of the Department of Transportation; and Ron Collins, director of the Mayor’s Office of Boards & Commissions.
Also subject to replacement are Marsha Martin, director of the city’s AIDS office, and Darlene Nipper, director of the recently created Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs.
Fenty supported the creation of the LGBT Affairs Office and has promised to continue its operations, Rosenstein said.
Fenty’s statements during the campaign that he was considering replacing D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey raise questions about whether a new chief would retain the department’s Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit. Ramsey created the GLLU and appointed openly gay police Sgt. Brett Parson as its commander. Gay activists have praised Parson for reaching out to all segments of the GLBT community and for his and the GLLU’s active role in investigating crimes against gays.
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