US no longer refuge for LGBTQ refugees

The primary elections are almost over, and Washington, D.C. will soon have a new mayor.

For the first time, D.C. implemented ranked-choice voting. Because of this, not all races will have a final winner on election night. Some winners may take several days to be announced. I opposed ranked choice and would have rather had a runoff between the top two candidates, but D.C. voters spoke out, so we went with ranked choice.

Congratulations to Janice Lewis George, the clear winner of the mayoral primary. The general election is about to begin, and it is almost 100% certain that she will become the next mayor. I campaigned against her for a variety of reasons, and those reasons still stand.. But she will have my support, and I congratulate her on her victory. I hope she will be a good mayor for everyone in the district. I hope she will be a mayor we can all trust and work with. That she will always speak up for the LGBTQ community and speak up against those who try to discriminate against us. Just as I want her to actively fight anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, sexism, and racism. That she would fight for economic equality. So, again, I fully support her at this point. I believe she will do all these things. Because we all want only what’s best for everyone in our district. So, Janice Lewis George, I salute your victory and wish you all the best.

In addition to the new mayor, there will be a new Congressional delegate named Robert White. I wish him the best and hope he works to form the coalition we will need as we seek statehood. But I also hope that his first goal as we fight for it is to win us legislative and budgetary autonomy. He then re-elected Brian Schwalb as Attorney General, Phil Mendelsohn as Assembly Speaker, and Zachary Parker as 5th District Councilman. I hope they all keep up the good work they’ve been doing. I would also like to congratulate Mr. Oye Owolewa on his election as a Democratic Party member. Elissa Silverman then regained her seat in an independent special election. I hope those who supported her do better than I did when I supported her before. I was nominated for board by the Mayor, but Ms. Silverman told me that she could not participate in my committee review or vote for me because my support for her would reflect negatively on her. Let’s think about it. Thankfully, the other 12 members of the council had no problem approving me.

I hope the people of District 1 get fair and equal representation from former Metro DC Democratic Socialist Party of America Chair Aparna Raj, who clearly won that election. Congratulations also to Matthew Frumin on his re-election in District 3 and Charles Allen on his re-election in District 6. And congratulations to my friend Phil Pannell and everyone else elected to Democratic positions.

With new councilors and a new mayor, we can certainly expect some changes in how government is run and which issues are priorities. Given the frustration we all feel with this felon in the White House, I can only hope that by being so violent, so direct, and especially when it’s a challenge from the mayor, that he can and has shown he is willing to cause pain to the people of Washington, D.C., and that he can put some measure of restraint on their thoughts. He can and will react negatively, and we’ve seen that. The new mayor needs to know how to walk the tightrope. Because that’s the skill you need when dealing with liars, racists, sexists, homophobic felons in the Oval Office. Whether he likes it or not, he will remain in office for the first two years of the new mayor’s term. I’d like to see him in prison, but that’s fine.

The new mayor and city council will be tackling some of the same issues that have existed for years, as well as some new ones. They will continue to struggle with the rat problem, the animals. And we look forward to the new RFK Stadium and the return of our leaders to DC. The team has made certain promises and it is up to the government to hold them accountable, including working with local communities, building affordable housing, building new supermarkets and many other promises. Employment must be monitored to ensure that Washington, DC residents have all possible opportunities for jobs at all levels on a variety of projects.

Once again, congratulations to all the award winners.

Peter Rosenstein She has been an active LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist for many years.