Brown Fanning the Campaign Flames

Nipper Named LGBT Director

Darlene R. Nipper , the mayor's new liaison to the gay community, said she wants to build on the legacy left by Wanda R. Alston.

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) named Nipper as director of the Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Affairs in November. Nipper, who has worked extensively on HIV/AIDS education, was a member of the mayor's LGBT executive committee.

It will be a year this month since Alston was brutally murdered in her home by a drug-addled neighbor. Nipper, a close friend, said she feels the constituents served by LGBT office are ready to move forward.

"Wanda has a wonderful legacy," said Nipper, 41. "Coming behind Wanda is definitely a challenge. I loved Wanda dearly and hate that she's gone, but I definitely feel her energy."

And Nipper said she wants to reenergize the two-person office, which did not have a director for 10 months.

"Her death has galvanized us," Nipper said. "And if anything has come out of a tragic loss, it's a galvanized LGBT community that's ready to stand up for our rights and work together to accomplish the goals."

Nipper's goal is to address some of the most pressing needs of the LGBT community, particularly safety and human rights issues facing youth.

"There are a range of concerns from safety in schools to going through the emotional process of dealing with their orientation," Nipper said.

Nipper, who lives in Ward 4, has more than 15 years of management and advocacy experience, including leadership posts at the Black Entertainment Television Foundation, the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and the National Mental Health Association.

Williams's Disappearing Act

Williams quietly left town last Thursday for four days of "personal travel." At first, nobody would say where he went. But spokesman Vince Morris eventually acknowledged that the mayor and his wife had jetted off to . . . Iceland.

Why Iceland? Morris said he knew only that it was some kind of "big food thing."

Food. Iceland. End of February. Plug it all into Google and you get the Reykjavik Food and Fun Festival, Feb. 22 to 25, in which "world-acclaimed chefs" compete to make wonderful dishes out of native Icelandic ingredients.

Of the 12 competitors, four were Washingtonians, including chefs from 1789, Charlie Palmer Steak, Cafe Saint-Ex and Kaz Sushi Bistro. Charlie Palmer executive chef Bryan Voltaggio took top honors for "Best Fish Course."

As for the mayor and his wife, they probably had more to do than cheer on the hometown chefs. The food festival coincides with the Reykjavik Winter Lights Festival, Feb. 23 to 26, an annual celebration of "the growing light after a long period of darkness," according to the city's official tourism Web site.

An appropriate theme, perhaps, given the mayor's recent victory after a long period of darkness on the proposed baseball stadium.

Williams, however, was mum on that point. Asked this week about his visit, he would allow only that Iceland was "a beautiful country."