D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith to step down Dec. 31

Members of Washington, D.C.’s LGBTQ community spoke out about the impact Mayor Muriel Bowser has had on them, the city, and LGBTQ people in statements and interviews with the Washington Blade, the week after Bowser announced that she would not run for re-election in 2026.

Bowser’s Nov. 25 announcement comes in the third year of his three-four-year term as mayor, after serving as a member of the DC Council representing the 4th Ward from 2007 until January 2, 2015, when he became mayor.

LGBTQ activists and mayoral staff who spoke to the Blade agreed that Bowser has been an outspoken and committed advocate on a wide range of LGBTQ-related issues, from his time on the City Council to his many years as mayor.

That includes Jim Slattery, one of the mayor’s many openly LGBTQ staffers, who has held a cabinet-level position as the mayor’s communications director since Bowser first became mayor.

“As Mayor Muriel Bowser’s longest-serving LGBTQIA+ employee since her first term as Ward 4 Councilwoman, and a proud Cabinet member from day one of her administration, I have had the opportunity to witness her work for the people she serves and leads,” Slattery said in a statement. “What is remarkable is that throughout my 27 years in district government, I have always been able to do so as an open and proud homosexual,” he said.

Slattery added that he witnessed firsthand Bowser’s “absolute belief” in supporting the LGBTQ community.

“She led the way in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment, shelter for vulnerable populations in our community, housing for our community’s seniors, and was always a reliable presence at events for LGBTQIA+ residents,” Slattery said. Some of those events include World AIDS Day, the DC Pride Parade and the 17th Annual AIDS Day, he said.^th Street LGBTQ High Heel Lace and World Pride 2025. DC hosted with strong support from the Mayor’s Office.

Ryan Vos, CEO and president of Capital Pride Alliance, the D.C. group that organizes the city’s annual LGBTQ Pride event and hosted World Pride 2025, praised Bowser, a longtime supporter of the organization.

“She has played a very supportive role in helping us grow as an organization and bring World Pride to Washington, D.C.,” Boss told the Blade. “And we commend her for her years of service, and our hope is that she will help us continue to advocate for D.C. government support for the LGBTQ+ community, especially during times like these,” Boss said.

Voss said the Capital Pride Alliance appreciates Bowser’s efforts to provide city funding for events such as World Pride, citing the Trump administration’s hostility toward LGBTQ issues and sharp cuts in federal funding to nonprofits, including LGBTQ organizations.

“She provided support throughout the World Pride event process and ultimately worked with the D.C. Council to provide us with the funding we needed to make World Pride a success,” Boss said. “And we’re proud to demonstrate that Capital Pride and World Pride have had such a significant economic impact on Washington, D.C., and the D.C. government,” he added.

Mayor Bowser’s gay brother Marvin Bowser, who owns a local photography business and has been active in D.C.’s LGBTQ community for years, said he has witnessed firsthand his sister’s support for the LGBTQ community and all D.C. residents since she became a City Council member and even before that.

Among his vivid memories, he said, was his sister’s strong support for the Marriage Equality Act, which legalized same-sex marriage in Washington, D.C., approved by the City Council in 2009 under then-Mayor Adrian Fenty.

“I remember the first time she stood up and gave clear and unequivocal support to the community when that law was passed,” Marvin Bowser told the Blade. “And she took the lead and spoke out very strongly in support of marriage equality,” he said.

Marvin Bowser also credits his sister with expanding and strengthening the then-mayor’s office’s GLBT office, including appointing advocate Sheila Alexander Reed as executive director in 2015.

Before becoming GLBT executive director, Ms. Reed was for many years the founder and publisher of the national lesbian publication Women in the Life, and had a “rock star” reputation, according to Marvin Bowser.

He recalled that Mayor Bowser also played a leading role in Washington, D.C.’s bid to host the Gay Games, an international LGBTQ sports event held once every four years, in 2022.

Marvin Bowser lost his candidacy for the 2022 Gay Games, arguing that the Gay Games Federation was unfair in its efforts to host the first Gay Games in Asia, even though DC had made a stronger bid to host the event.

“Everything she did for the community was heartfelt and tangible,” he said of Muriel Bowser. “And in my personal relationship with her, she has absolutely supported me and my partner over the years,” he said.

“And we were just at her house helping her put up her Christmas decorations,” he added. “So it’s great to have her as a sister.”

Japer Bowles, a veteran Washington, D.C., LGBTQ advocate who currently serves as director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, discussed the mayor’s record on LGBTQ issues in his statement to the Blade.

“Mayor Muriel Bowser has been a steadfast champion of D.C.’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual communities and movements,” he said. “Her more than 20 years of leadership has resulted in consistent, historic investments and impactful violence prevention efforts in LGBTQIA+ youth, seniors, veterans, and residents experiencing homelessness,” he added.

“Under her leadership, the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs has grown into a national leader, providing more than $10 million in community grants to LGBTQIA+ programs and administering 110 Housing Choice Vouchers,” Bowles said in a statement.

“Because of her work, we are stronger, safer, more visible, and proudly the ‘gayest city in the world,’” he said, citing comments Bowser made frequently at LGBTQ events that D.C. is the gayest city in the world.

In a statement that may surprise some in the LGBTQ community, Sarah Chapari, a gay D.C. small business owner who served as Bowser’s appointee to head the mayor’s Office of Nightlife and Culture from 2022 to 2024, criticized some of the non-LGBTQ policies the city implemented under the Bowser administration as harmful to small businesses.

Mr. Bowser appointed Mr. Zapari, a former D.C. police officer, to the nightlife position shortly after he lost his bid as an openly gay candidate for the D.C. City Council District 1 seat held by incumbent Brianne Nadeau.

“Mayor Bowser led D.C. through a tumultuous few years and tremendous growth, and we can all be proud of her leadership on many fronts,” Mayor Zapari said in a statement to the Blade. “She also sets an example for more leaders to follow by stepping aside to allow a new generation to lead.” “But as we turn the page, we must be honest about what the next mayor should deliver,” he said in a statement.

Without mentioning Bowser by name, he listed at least four things the next mayor should do, suggesting Bowser failed to act or did something wrong. Among them were the need to treat the D.C. Council as a “true governance partner,” to ensure that residents and small businesses “don’t feel the weight of an outdated and unresponsive system,” and for leadership that “values ​​competency over loyalty.”

He added that the city’s “reversal” of the city’s street program, which was put in place during the coronavirus pandemic to allow restaurants to set up outdoor seating in on-street parking lanes, is a “reversal” of progress for small businesses.

“LGBTQ rights and inclusion is one of the many areas in which I am extremely proud of the Mayor’s leadership,” he concluded.

The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to the Blade’s request for an opportunity to respond to Tsapari’s statement.

Sheila Alexander Reed offered a much different perspective, saying she was proud to serve as the mayor’s director of LGBTQ issues for the first six and a half years of Bowser’s tenure as mayor.

“I have watched her grow from a newly elected mayor to a confident, experienced leader who meets every challenge head-on and beats the competition time and time again,” Alexander Reed said in a statement to the Blade.

“With each passing year in office, her voice has grown stronger, more grounded and more fearless,” her statement continues. “And she needed that strength, because being a Black female mayor is not for the faint of heart. But Mayor Bowser never backed down. Instead, she showed the city what courageous and compassionate leadership really looks like.”

Alexander Reed added that Bowser funded a new LGBTQ community center facility, expanded workforce development programs for the transgender community, and “made D.C. the first jurisdiction in the nation to require LGBTQ+ cultural competency training for health care providers.”

She also pointed to the mayor’s LGBTQ “safety net” through low-barrier shelters and housing vouchers, as well as support for 17-year-old LGBTQ celebrations.^th Street high heel lace.

“But what inspired me the most was this,” Alexander Reed said. “At a time when some elected officials across the country were backing away from supporting LGBTQ people, Mayor Bowser did the opposite. She stepped up and joined forces. She made sure LGBTQ residents knew they were seen, valued, protected and loved by the city.”