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LOU CHIBBARO JR
Friday, July 25, 2008
Representatives of more than 20 D.C. government agencies, including the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, set up tables and booths to talk about their role in serving the needs of District residents at a July 16 “gay” open house reception organized by the Mayor’s Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Affairs.
But only about 40 gay city residents showed up at Westminster Presbyterian Church at 4th and I streets, S.W., where the event was held, prompting the agency officials to talk mostly among themselves during the two-hour open house.
Christopher Dyer, director of the Office of LGBT Affairs, said his office decided to hold the event in a meeting hall at the gay-friendly Westminster Church because a space large enough to accommodate tables and booths for more than 20 city agencies could not be obtained in a city building downtown, which may have been more accessible to the public.
Several of the gay residents who attended the event nevertheless said they found it helpful to be able to meet and ask questions of the officials who operate agencies such as the Office of Human Rights, the Child and Family Services Agency, the Department of Health and the Department of Corrections.
Longtime gay activist Courtney Williams, an official with the D.C. Office on Aging, said his office staff is trained to assess the needs of gay senior citizens. And Alston Gadsden, training manager for the city’s Office of Unified Communications, said all city residents, including gays, should be aware of his office’s recently installed 311 toll-free phone number, which allows citizens to request city services and make non-emergency police calls.
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