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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
 
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Fenty during the primary campaign appear to reflect many of the same constituencies that supported Fenty throughout the city, both gay and straight, black and white, and Latino, Fenty supporters have said. Supporters say Fenty backers include “rank and file” District residents who were attracted to Fenty’s idealism and commitment to reforming the city’s troubled public school system and to helping the city’s less economically advantaged residents.
Other Fenty backers include young professionals, small business owners, and progressive civic activists who, according to the Washington Post, sought to break away from the city’s “deeply entrenched crony class.”
The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest gay political organization, endorsed D.C. Council Chair Linda Cropp, Fenty’s chief rival in the mayoral contest.
Yet three of the Stein Club’s five officers backed Fenty: Stein Vice Presidents Clair Lucas and Darren Bowie and the club’s secretary, Logan Circle Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Christopher Dyer. The Club’s president, Mario Acosta-Velez, and treasurer, Darren Glymph, backed Cropp. David Meadows, the club’s immediate past president, served as Cropp’s campaign liaison to the gay community.
Other gays that backed Fenty included Lambda Rising Bookstore owner Deacon Maccubbin; Realtor Suzanne Goldstein; title company owner and ANC member Babak Movahedi; and lesbian activist Sheila Alexander-Reid. District resident Justin Nelson, president and co-founder of the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, said he supported Fenty based, among other things, on Fenty’s willingness to listen to the concerns of gay business owners.
Eric Little, owner of the D.C. gay bars JR.’s and Cobalt; and John Guggenmos, part owner of the gay bar Halo, were among a number of prominent local gay business owners that also backed Fenty.
Fearing congressional backlash
Mayor Williams’ decision to withhold the Spagnoletti memo has fueled speculation that the memo states that D.C. law would allow the city to recognize same-sex marriages between couples that move to or visit D.C. from Massachusetts. Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage in 2003 based on a decision by the state’s highest court.
A decision by Fenty to release the Spagnoletti memo and take steps to allow D.C. to recognize gay marriages from Massachusetts would likely draw criticism among some members of Congress, including Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who has hinted that he might introduce legislation to ban gay marriage in the Di
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