LGBTQ+ advocates are building a political pipeline, one D.C. neighborhood at a time

In Washington, D.C., where more than one in seven adults identifies as LGBTQ+, the most local layer of elected government still does not reliably reflect the people it represents. Capital Stonewall Democrats is trying to change that, beginning block by block.The LGBTQ+ political organization has launched Queering ANCs, a digital program designed to recruit, train and support LGBTQ+ people and allies seeking seats on the District’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. The group describes it as the country’s most ambitious effort to build an LGBTQ+ candidate pipeline through hyperlocal government.“Queering ANCs is an online, web-based tool that’s designed really to simply move people from interest in running to actually getting their name on the ballot,” Capital Stonewall Democrats President Stevie McCarty told The Advocate in an interview.The District has the largest proportion of LGBTQ+ adults of any U.S. jurisdiction, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Its 2023 analysis, based on 2020 and 2021 federal health survey data, estimated that 14.3 percent of adults in D.C. — about 81,400 people — identify as LGBTQ+. The national figure was 5.5 percent.But demographic presence does not automatically produce political representation, especially in offices that many residents may not know exist.The power of neighborhood governmentD.C. has 46 Advisory Neighborhood Commissions divided into 345 single-member districts. Commissioners consider matters that shape daily life, including housing, zoning, liquor licenses, traffic, parking, public safety, sanitation and street improvements. Although they do not pass city laws, District agencies are required to give their formal recommendations “great weight.”“ANCs really do touch just about every daily aspect of our neighbors’ lives,” McCarty said.McCarty chairs ANC 2G, which includes parts of Shaw and Mount Vernon Square, and is finishing his second term as a commissioner. He pointed to an