Sheila Bunn, Mike Austin, Salim Adofo – Photos: Facebook
Sheila Bunn, a candidate in the July 15 Ward 8 special election for D.C. Council, earned the highest score on GLAA’s issues questionnaire, outpacing two other challengers to former Councilmember Trayon White, who is seeking to reclaim the seat he lost after being expelled in February.
White was expelled from office after being indicted for allegedly accepting thousands of dollars in bribes — a charge he denies and has pleaded not guilty to. Despite that, he’s running again for his former seat.
GLAA, however, does not rate candidates who were expelled or resigned due to alleged ethical violations, including “conflicts of interest, self-dealing and malfeasance.”
The other candidates in the race are Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Salim Adofo; Sheila Bunn, a senior political strategist and former chief of staff to the late Mayor and Ward 7 Councilmember Vincent Gray; and Mike Austin, an attorney and former ANC chair.
Each election cycle, GLAA — D.C.’s nonpartisan LGBTQ civic group and the nation’s oldest continuously active LGBTQ civil rights organization — sends questionnaires to local candidates asking about their positions on LGBTQ issues and policies that disproportionately impact the LGBTQ community.
Candidates are rated on a scale from -10 to +10, with scores based on their alignment with GLAA’s positions, the depth of their responses, and their record of advocacy.
Bunn received a +7.5 rating, the highest among the candidates. She was praised for her LGBTQ advocacy and public service while working for Gray, who also had a strong pro-LGBTQ record, as well as for her community efforts on marriage equality, transgender employment, insurance nondiscrimination, and HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
She was also commended for showing a “depth of understanding of complexity and willingness to navigate ambiguity and difficult decisions,” particularly in explaining how specific issues affect the LGBTQ community. However, she disagreed with GLAA on taxation and social work licensing, and did not take clear positions on sex work, drug decriminalization, or social housing.
Austin received a +6.5 rating, agreeing with GLAA on almost all issues, with some unclear stances on taxation and social housing. In its write-up of Austin’s responses, GLAA wrote that he “demonstrates an engagement with the issues in the policy questionnaire and their impact on Ward 8 constituents.”
Austin earned a +6.5 rating, agreeing with GLAA on most issues, though his positions on taxation and social housing were somewhat unclear. GLAA noted that he “demonstrates an engagement with the issues in the policy questionnaire and their impact on Ward 8 constituents.”
Although Austin lacked a personal record of LGBTQ advocacy, he showed strong knowledge of LGBTQ issues, offering detailed, policy-driven responses. He was praised for explicitly referencing LGBTQ and marginalized communities and for connecting his experience as an ANC chair to GLAA’s top priorities.
Adofo earned a +4.5 rating from GLAA, agreeing with the organization on most issues, but hedging on questions related to taxation, overdose revention centers, sex work decriminalization, and social
housing. While his responses were thoughtful and demonstrated deeper knowledge of some issues, he failed to garner points due to his lack of detail about the impacts of certain policies on the LGBTQ community, and his lack of a personal record of pro-LGBTQ advocacy.
Adofo received a +4.5 rating, agreeing with GLAA on most issues but hedging on topics like taxation, overdose prevention centers, sex work decriminalization, and social housing. His responses showed thoughtfulness and some subject-matter depth, but he lost points for failing to detail how specific policies affect LGBTQ people, and for lacking a personal record of pro-LGBTQ advocacy.
“Adofo doesn’t cite any direct LGBTQ advocacy or specific actions in his answers — there’s no mention of LGBTQ people or issues except in the Office of Human Rights question,” GLAA writes. “But GLAA members are aware of his engagement as a Ward 8 community leader for many years on issues important to the health and wellbeing of Ward 8’s LGBTQ+ community. He often frames his support in terms of Ward 8’s needs and talks about working with coalitions or reviewing proposals, rather than laying out specific plans.”
The Metropolitan Police Department is asking for the public’s help in solving the fatal shooting of a transgender woman in Northeast D.C.
Dream Johnson, 28, was reportedly walking along Benning Road NE, between the Carver Langston and Kingman Park neighborhoods, when she was shot in the early morning hours of Saturday, July 5.
According to a news release from the Metropolitan Police Department, officers from MPD’s Sixth District were flagged down in the 2000 block of Benning Road NE for an unconscious woman. When they arrived, they found a female victim -- later identified as Johnson -- suffering from gunshot wounds.
New York City’s LGBTQ voters narrowly favor State Rep. Zohran Mamdani (D-Queens) over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the upcoming Democratic primary -- though one in four remain undecided as early voting begins this week.
A new poll by the Honan Strategy Group, commissioned by LGBTQ advocacy group Destination Tomorrow, finds that LGBTQ New Yorkers make up about 20% of the Democratic electorate heading into the June 24 primary, according to The New York Post.
The U.S. Department of Education announced that June would be honored as "Title IX Month."
The announcement is widely viewed as a swipe at the LGBTQ community, and in particular, the transgender community, which has traditionally June as Pride Month.
Title IX is the law prohibiting sex-based discrimination in educational institutions receiving federal funding.
Historically — and in the view of conservatives — Title IX was intended to protect individuals based on their sex assigned at birth, and is widely credited with expanding educational and athletic opportunities for women.
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