The District of Columbia has settled a lawsuit brought by a veteran D.C. Department of Corrections officer who alleged anti-gay discrimination, agreeing to pay him $500,000.
Sgt. Deon Jones, a 28-year veteran of the Department of Corrections, filed the lawsuit in 2021 alleging violations of the D.C. Human Rights Act after supervisors and co-workers subjected him to discrimination because he is a gay man, including harassment and homophobic slurs while he was performing his duties inside the jail.
“I’ve been called a [expletive], a sissy, and I’ve been called other names. I would call for assistance, and no assistance would arrive,” Jones told D.C. FOX affiliate WTTG shortly after filing the lawsuit.
“I would transmit on my walky-talky and be called a [expletive], and the warden, the deputy warden, and majors all have radios, so they could hear someone calling you a [expletive] or sissy over the airwaves,” he added. “It’s embarrassing, it’s demeaning, and I’m just tired of it.”
Both inmates and co-workers hurled homophobic slurs at Jones, with fellow corrections officers telling him they “don’t like faggots or sissies” and “hate working with faggots,” according to the lawsuit.
While the lawsuit primarily focused on more recent instances of on-the-job harassment, Jones alleged that the mistreatment dated back to 2006. According to the lawsuit, a senior corporal assaulted Jones in March 2006 after he complained to Department of Corrections supervisors about the corporal’s behavior.
On multiple occasions, fellow officers refused to respond to Jones’s calls for help over the internal radio system while he was interacting with inmates — putting his safety at risk.
“I was almost raped,” Jones told WTTG in 2021. “I had an inmate who said he would cut my throat and he would [expletive] me while I was in an elevator. No zone supervisor came, even though the zone supervisor was on the second floor at the time.”
Jones alleged that he repeatedly complained to supervisors, who ignored his concerns and failed to remedy the situation. Instead, he claimed in his lawsuit, they retaliated against him by refusing to assist him with “hostile inmates” and subjecting him to a “hostile work environment” after he spoke out. Jones also alleged that he was denied promotions because of his sexual orientation, most recently in 2021.
At one point, Jones brought complaints about the discrimination and harassment he faced to D.C. government authorities, including the offices of Department of Corrections Director Quincy Booth and Mayor Muriel Bowser. According to the lawsuit, neither intervened nor took action to address his concerns.
The prolonged mistreatment took a toll on Jones’s mental health, and he experienced depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and 15 anxiety attacks in 2021 alone.
Jones later enlisted the help of the American Civil Liberties Union of the District of Columbia and international law firm WilmerHale and sued the District of Columbia, his supervisors, and one co-worker over the mistreatment he said he endured.
The defendants filed a series of partial motions to dismiss the case in 2022. Although a court granted the motions in part, Jones’s key claims remained intact after the lawsuit was amended. Discovery began in the summer of 2022.
On February 5, 2026 — nearly four and a half years after the lawsuit was filed — the District agreed to settle the case out of court, paying Jones $500,000, a sum that includes attorney’s fees and court costs, in exchange for dismissing the claims against the defendants, including the District of Columbia. The settlement specifies that the agreement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing by any defendant.
As part of the settlement, Jones agreed to submit a written notice of resignation within 10 days, with the resignation taking effect within 60 days of signing the agreement. During that period, he will be placed on paid administrative leave and continue to receive his normal pay and benefits.
The settlement also bars Jones from seeking future employment with the District of Columbia government and requires the Department of Corrections to provide a neutral reference confirming his past employment if contacted by a non-governmental prospective employer.
“For years, I showed up to do my job with professionalism and pride, only to be targeted because of who I am,” Jones said in a statement. “This settlement affirms that my pain mattered — and that creating hostile workplaces has real consequences. For anyone who is LGBTQ or living with a disability and facing workplace discrimination or retaliation, know this: you are not powerless. You have rights. And when you stand up, you can achieve justice.”
Kansas lawmakers have passed a sweeping anti-trans bill that restricts which public restrooms and locker rooms transgender people may use.
The bill requires driver’s licenses and birth certificates to reflect a person’s assigned sex at birth and defines “gender” under Kansas law as biological sex determined at birth, including chromosomes, hormones, gonads, and internal and external genitalia.
Under the bill, Kansans would be barred from amending the gender marker on their original birth certificate, and driver’s licenses could only display a gender marker that aligns with a person’s assigned sex at birth, reports Topeka-based CBS affiliate WIBW.
The Dallas Landmark Commission unanimously approved rainbow-colored steps outside Oak Lawn United Methodist Church as a temporary art installation, allowing the display to remain for up to three years despite objections that they violate historic preservation codes.
As a designated historic site, Oak Lawn United Methodist Church is required to seek city approval before making major exterior changes, including paint colors, according to Dallas-area PBS/NPR affiliate KERA.
The LGBTQ-welcoming church did not submit an application to the landmark commission before repainting its exterior steps in the colors of the "Progress Pride" flag, incorporating the traditional rainbow along with black and brown stripes and the blue, pink, and white of the transgender Pride flag.
For the first time in Salt Lake City’s history, a majority of the seven-member council is made up of out LGBTQ members, following last year’s municipal elections that produced a notably diverse governing body.
Erika Carlsen, a gay Latina, was elected to represent District 5, which includes Ballpark, Central Ninth, East Liberty Park, and Liberty Wells. Voters also reelected District 3’s Chris Wharton, who represents Capitol Hill, the Avenues, and City Creek Canyon.
Other LGBTQ members include Alejandro Puy, a gay Latino who represents District 2, which includes parts of downtown as well as Fairpark, Poplar Grove, and Glendale, and Eva Lopez Chavez, a gay Latina and the first Mexican American elected to the council, who represents District 4, covering parts of downtown, Central City, and East Central.
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