District of Columbia

The D.C. Council has approved a bill to prohibit LGBT youth from undergoing gay-to-straight conversion therapy.

WASHINGTON — Democrat Muriel Bowser was elected mayor of the District of Columbia on Tuesday, defeating independent D.C. council member David Catania, who was seeking to make history as the District’s first white, openly gay and non-Democratic mayor.

WASHINGTON — An unusually long and competitive general-election campaign for District of Columbia mayor is drawing to a close Tuesday, with voters deciding whether to continue Democrats’ perfect record when seeking the city’s highest office.

This year’s election night is likely to be an important one for the LGBT history books: Voters in Massachusetts are expected to elect the nation’s first-ever openly gay state attorney general, and voters in Maine could very well elect the nation’s first-ever openly gay governor. Two candidates for Congress could well become the first openly gay Republican elected …

WASHINGTON — The rabbi of a prominent synagogue in Washington D.C. is telling his congregants that he’s gay, and that he and his wife of 20 years are divorcing. The Washington Post reports Rabbi Gil Steinlauf sent an email Monday to the 1,400 households of Adas Israel Congregation, saying he could no longer deny his homosexuality.

WASHINGTON — A man has been charged with stabbing a transgender girl on a D.C. Metro train. WTOP reports the Metro Transit police say 24-year-old Reginald Klaiber has been charged with stabbing a 15-year-old on a southbound Green Line train as it approached the Fort Totten station at around 4:30 Wednesday afternoon in the District of Columbia.

A Washington, D.C., gay man says he was attacked July 2 inside a Safeway store by an unidentified woman who punched him several times in the face while calling him a faggot, reports the Washington Blade. The victim, Mark Rutstein, said Safeway employees told him they believe the suspect, who is a regular customer, might be associated with gang members …

WASHINGTON — An openly transgender Episcopal priest is set to preach at Washington National Cathedral. The Rev. Dr. Cameron Partridge, the Episcopal chaplain at Boston University, will be a guest preacher on Sunday. He’ll be the first openly transgender priest to preach from Canterbury Pulpit at the cathedral.

WASHINGTON — A man who pleaded guilty to pistol-whipping a transgender woman in a convenience store in Washington has been sentenced to 28 months in prison. Thirty-six-year-old Michael Phillips of Fairmount Heights, Maryland, was sentenced Monday in Superior Court in the District.

Which U.S. city is most friendly toward LGBT residents? Which big cities don’t even make the list? What’s the gayest city in “red state” America? Which metro area has the highest percentage of out politicians? Where do same-sex Craigslist hookups happen most frequently?

Lambda Legal filed a complaint Tuesday in the Washington, D.C., Office of Human Rights on behalf of a transgender woman who was given a restaurant receipt with an anti-LGBT slur printed on it while socializing with friends at a local hookah bar. According to the complaint, the words “GAY BITCHES” were printed in place of the customer’s name.

WASHINGTON — Hundreds of students, educators and community members have turned out for a counter-protest against the anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church at a District of Columbia high school. Westboro targeted Wilson High School for a protest over the school’s annual Pride Day event. This year, the school’s principal came out as gay.

WASHINGTON — Thousands turned out for Capital Pride over the weekend, marked by the annual pride parade through the streets of the nation’s capital on Saturday, and a street fair and festival on Sunday. And for the first time ever, a U.S. military color guard marched alongside rainbow flags in the parade.

WASHINGTON — For the first time, a U.S. military color guard is expected to march alongside rainbow flags in Washington D.C.’s gay pride parade. An eight-member color guard team from the U.S. Army Military District of Washington is scheduled to lead off the parade Saturday.

A D.C. high school principal came out as gay on Wednesday, breaking 50 years of silence in an emotional address to the student body at a Pride Day assembly. Stand next to D.C. Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D) and openly gay council member David A. Catania, Wilson High School Principal Pete Cahall said he has been inspired by his students to declare his sexual orientation openly.

Former Minnesota Vikings Punter and LGBT ally Chris Kluwe will serve as Grand Marshall of this year’s Capital Pride parade in Washington D.C. This year’s theme is “Building our bright future.”

Capital Pride, which spans 10 days, kicks off on Friday, May 30, and culminates with the 39th annual Pride Parade on June 7 and the Capital Pride Street Festival on June 8.

District of Columbia Mayor Vincent Gray on Thursday announced that public and private health insurance plans that the D.C. government regulates — including Medicaid, D.C. government employee insurance, and private plans sold on D.C.’s health exchange — will be required to cover transition-related care.

A heart attack victim says a Roman Catholic priest working as a chaplain at a Washington D.C. hospital refused to give him last rites and communion after the patient told him he’s gay.

WASHINGTON — A D.C. man who stabbed a transgender woman 40 times last summer after an argument about sex was sentenced to 10 years in prison Friday.

WASHINGTON — D.C. Councilmember David Catania formed an exploratory committee for a mayoral bid Wednesday, saying he’s unimpressed by the large field of candidates and wants to find out if he can do more to improve public education from the city’s highest office.