Meet D.C.'sPoint Scholars

Harjant Gill

is amonglocal students overcominghardship with help fromthe Point Foundation.

PAGE 39

nationalnews

Gay candidates forCongress, including

David Cicilline

, areraking in the cash.

PAGE 16

districtnews

Evidence fight continuesin Robert Wone murdercase, as May trial dateof three gay men nears.

PAGE 6

the lgbtq community’s news source

washingtonblade.com • vol. 41, issue 18 • april 30, 2010 • Still sharp after 40 years

Announcementcomes as activistsplan Sunday protestat White House

By CHRIS JOHNSONcjohnson@washblade.com

U.S. House Speaker NancyPelosi (D-Calif.) is planning to hold avote this year on repeal of “Don’t Ask,Don’t Tell,” according to her office.“It is the Speaker’s intention thata vote will be taken this yearon [‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’] in theHouse,” Drew Hammill, a Pelosispokesperson, told the WashingtonBlade in a statement this week.The announcement is welcomenews for repeal advocates becausePelosi has yet to send legislation tothe floor that lacked sufficient sup-port for passage.Michael Cole, a Human RightsCampaign spokesperson, praisedPelosi for planning the vote.“As we’ve been saying for along time now, the time to repealthe ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ law isthis year, and it’s a positive signto hear congressional leadersaffirm that,” Cole said.Still, he noted that furtherwork is necessary to makerepeal happen.“We need pressure on theCongress, we need pressure onthe White House, we need pres-sure across the board, and as weget into this critical period, signslike that are promising,” he said.Aubrey Sarvis, executivedirector of the ServicemembersLegal Defense Network, said helearned last week in a meetingwith House Majority LeaderSteny Hoyer that the House wasplanning the vote.

Our popular Queery feature is back.

Aiyi'nah Ford

answers 20 gay questions.

Page 40

socialagenda

Aisha Mills

, president of theCampaign for All D.C. Families, saidLGBT activists cannot ‘rest on ourlaurels’ despite recent successes.

Washington Blade photo by Michael Key

Despite successes,activists say ‘we havenot overcome yet’

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.lchibbaro@washblade.com

When the weddings for same-sex couples began in the District ofColumbia on March 9, many in thecommunity hailed the occasion asthe capstone of the city’s decades-old LGBT rights movement.The District government’s enact-ment of a same-sex marriage lawin December and Congress’s deci-sion not to stop it follows a long listof existing city laws and policiesthat protect LGBT people from dis-crimination, some of which wereapproved more than 30 years ago.With this as a backdrop, somein the community wonderedwhether the same-sex marriagelaw marked the completion of theLGBT rights movement within thecity, enabling activists to move onto other causes and endeavors.But an informal WashingtonBlade survey of local LGBTactivists conducted over the pasttwo weeks shows that virtually allthose contacted believe a widerange of LGBT-related problemsand concerns remain on the agen-da of local advocacy groups.

D.C. has marriage,so now what?

Pelosi wants ‘Don’t Ask’ vote this year

U.S. House Speaker

Nancy Pelosi

wants to hold a House vote this year on ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’

Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key

Continues onpage 14Continues onpage 26

To our readers:

With this issue, we reclaim and re-launch the Washington Blade, yourLGBTQ newspaper of record for more than 40 years.

(See relatedstory on page 4.)

But the DC Agenda remains part of our identity; theBlade is back, and tucked inside, is the Agenda, our new local A&Eguide. Thank you to all of our readers, advertisers and those in thecommunity who have supported us during the last 23 weeks. We aregrateful for the overwhelming support we continue to receive. Wepledge to continue the Blade’s long traditions of community serviceand award-winning journalism.