Washingtonblade.com, Volume 52, Issue 12, March 19, 2021

Welcome to the U.S. LGBTQ asylum seekers closer to a new life, PAGE 10

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Comings & Goings

Lutz to open new bar, restaurant in Rehoboth Beach

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: comingsandgoings@washblade.com.

Congratulations to my good friend Freddie Lutz as he builds his restaurant and bar empire. His newest creation will be Freddie’s Beach Bar in Rehoboth Beach, Del., located in the old Pond location at 3 S. 1st St. Lutz hopes to be open by Memorial Day. He adds the lease he said, “I was sitting in Freddie’s Beach Bar recently thinking about what was missing in the place and I said to myself: “I know! Sand and an ocean! It only took me 20 would have thought of such a concept!!!”

I’ve known Lutz for 43 years and it’s been fun to watch him successfully navigate the restaurants and bars.

Lutz began his restaurant career at the bottom as a dishwasher at the East Side Diner in Providence, R.I., while attending the Rhode Island School of Design. After returning restaurant. When the owners opened Café Italia across the street he went to work there. downtown D.C. restaurant.” He always said he enjoyed the more homey and comfortable Tipper and Al Gore, Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, Newt Gingrich, and Jim and Sarah Brady to name just a few. And many of them enjoyed the good home cooking and ambiance Lutz maintains at his restaurants today. The original

FREDDIE LUTZ

ANDREW ISEN

incredible host. He knows how to get people to enjoy themselves. He and his partner of 20 years, Johnny Cervantes, love making people happy and of Johnny, Lutz says, “He is will get to know him and I predict love him.

Congratulations also to Andrew A. Isen on having his company WinMark Concepts business voice of the LGBT community and serves as the nation’s exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned and operated businesses. Isen, founder and president of WinMark Concepts, Inc. said, “For the past 30 years, WinMark has been the leading marketing and communications agency successfully guiding companies to the LGBTQ corporations with their marketing, diversity and inclusion initiatives.”

Isen has been named a member of “Out 100” by Out magazine. Prior to founding Girl Scouts of America. He is a philanthropist for arts and LGBTQ organizations including the Signature Theatre, Goodspeed Musicals, ASCAP, and the Point Foundation.

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced on Monday that the rapidly increasing restrictions on restaurants, bars, sporting events, and other activities.

In a development that was immediately welcomed by the city’s nightlife businesses, including D.C. gay bars, Bowser said that beginning March 22, bars and restaurants will be allowed to serve alcoholic beverages until midnight instead of the current cutoff of alcohol service at 10 p.m.

But D.C. nightlife advocate Mark Lee said many of the city’s restaurant and bar operators were disappointed that the mayor did not follow the action of other nearby jurisdictions in expanding the capacity of indoor operations of bars and restaurants beyond D.C.’s current 25 percent limit. Some cities and counties have raised the indoor dining limit to 50 percent.

The lessening of restrictions announced by Bowser also includes allowing the Washington Nationals to resume playing baseball at Nationals Park with up to 5,000

The mayor said that beginning March 29, 18 of the city’s public libraries will be allowed She said that in keeping with President Biden’s vaccination plans, beginning on May 1, all city residents age 16 and older would become eligible to register for an appointment considered essential and to be immediately eligible for the vaccine to in-person court Beginning on March 29, the eligibility will expand to ride-share drivers and journalists working in-person. On April 12, the eligibility will expand to construction and higher LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Casa Ruby Wellness Center burglarized D.C. police are investigating a March 8 burglary of the Casa Ruby Wellness Center and stole a computer and other items at a value of $1,490, according to a police report.

Kisha Allure, a case manager in charge of the Wellness Center, where Casa Ruby in took place shortly after she left the building to go on errands. She said she discovered As someone who provides assistance to Casa Ruby clients who are victims of violent

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crime, Allure said the incident was troubling because she could have returned while the suspect was inside the building, subjecting her to danger.

She said police were in the process of viewing video images of the suspect from security cameras on nearby buildings.

Police are asking anyone with information about the incident to contact police at 202727-9099.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

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Welcome to the U.S.

LGBTQ asylum seekers closer to a new life but challenges remain

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

MATAMOROS, Mexico — Natasha is a transgender woman from Honduras’ Olancho department.

She arrived in Matamoros, a Mexican border city that is across the Rio Grande from Brownsville, e as, on ct. 2, 20 . atasha, who ed persecution because of her gender identity, asked for asylum in U.S., but the Trump administration forced her to pursue her case in Mexico under the Migrant Protection Protocols program it implemented in June 2019.

Natasha lived in a migrant camp near the Gateway International Bridge over the Rio Grande that connects Matamoros and Brownsville for 11 months until last November when she moved into a shelter run by Rainbow Bridge Asylum Seekers, a program for LGBTQ asylum seekers and migrants that Resource Center Matamoros, a group that provides assistance to asylum seekers and migrants in the Mexican border city, helped create.

them to the Brownsville port of entry on the other side of the bridge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel process them before they are brought to Brownsville’s main bus station, which is a couple of blocks away from the CBP station.

Gaby Zavala, a bisexual woman who founded Resource Center Matamoros, and other local activists who include Cindy Candia of Angry Tias and Abuelas, a group that assists migrants and asylum seekers in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, offer the asylum seekers legal advice and help them buy bus tickets once they arrive at the bus station.

Michael Benavides, a gay man who co-founded Team Brownsville, and Felicia RangelSamporano, founder of the Sidewalk School for Children Asylum Seekers, which taught children who lived in the Matamoros camp, have also helped the asylum seekers once they entered the U.S. “It’s surreal to think that it’s actually happening,” Zavala told the Blade on Feb. 26 during an interview at a Mexican restaurant near the Brownsville bus station. “[It is]

GABY ZAVALA, a bisexual woman, founded Resource Center Matamoros.

NATASHA arrived in Matamoros on Oct. 12, 2019, fleeing persecution because of her gender identity. (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

“We can’t live in our countries,” Natasha told the Washington Blade on Feb. 27 during an interview at the Rainbow Bridge shelter, which is less than a mile from the Gateway International Bridge. “That’s why we entered the United States, to ask for refuge, and they sent us here to Mexico.”

Natasha entered the U.S. on March 10. She is now in North Carolina.

The Biden administration in January suspended enrollment in MPP. he first as lum seekers with active M cases arrived at ports of entr in Brownsville and El Paso, Texas, and San Ysidro, Calif. on Feb. 25.

Estuardo Cifuentes, a gay asylum seeker from Guatemala who ran the Rainbow Bridge shelter, lived in Matamoros for 19 months under MPP until he entered the U.S. on March 3. Two other asylum seekers who lived at the shelter — including Janeth, a trans woman from Cuba who arrived in Matamoros on May 27, 2019 — are now in the country. Janeth is now living with relatives in Miami.

“Discrimination, transphobia, homophobia, police abuse, police persecution and all these aggressions that are directed toward my community are the reasons that force us to leave,” Janeth told the Blade at the Rainbow Bridge shelter, referring to what prompted her to leave Cuba. “They almost expel us.”

The Biden administration allowed asylum seekers with MPP cases who lived in the Matamoros camp to enter the . . at the Brownsville port of entr first.

The process to enter the U.S. begins when an asylum seeker signs up online via a U.N. Refugee Agency website. A UNHCR representative then calls them to verify their personal information and provides them with a time to present themselves at the Gateway International Bridge.

The International Organization for Migration tests asylum seekers for the coronavirus, and they must test negative before they enter the U.S. They then board a bus that brings

something that we hoped for.”

Zavala noted the border “is still closed to new immigration,” even though MPP has been suspended and the Biden administration has begun to allow asylum seekers with active cases under the Trump-era program into the U.S. Zavala on Wednesday acknowledged asylum seekers and migrants will continue to travel to the border, regardless of the policies the U.S. puts in place.

“The border between Brownsville, Texas, and Matamoros, Tamaulipas, has always been a major route for immigrants in search of asylum in the United States of America,” she said. “The service of NGOs, those that sponsor projects like Resource Center Matamoros, is detrimental for asylum seekers as they arrive to the border because we are constantly conforming to ever-changing US immigration policies.”

The Associated Press on Tuesday reported more than 4,000 migrant children are currently in U.S. Border Control custody, as the number of migrants at the Southern border continues to grow.

The Department of Health and Human Services has announced it plans to open shelters in Texas and California in the coming days to allow migrant children to leave illequipped Border Patrol stations. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who was born in Cuba, on Tuesday in a statement acknowledged the Biden administration continues to “expel” most single adults and families “apprehended at the southwest border” under Title 42, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rule that closed the border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the pandemic.

“We are expelling most single adults and families,” said Mayorkas. “We are not expelling unaccompanied children.”

“We are securing our border, executing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) public health authority to safeguard the American public and the

(Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

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A view of the border fence in Tijuana.

(Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

migrants themselves, and protecting the children. We have more work to do.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and 12 other House Republicans on Monday traveled to El Paso, which is across the Rio Grande from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. The delegation did not include U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), who represents El Paso.

McCarthy and other Republicans have sharply criticized President Biden for beginning the process to reverse the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies. Activists who work with LGBTQ asylum seekers and migrants told the Blade on Tuesday the situation on the Southern border remains complex.

“Republicans want this to be scary Brown people about to invade, which it’s not,” said Emem Maurus, a supervising attorney for the Transgender Legal Center, told the Blade during a telephone interview from the Mexican border city of Tijuana where he works with LGBTQ that Trump effectively blocked migration for upwards of three years and Title 42 has been incredibly successfully in really stopping people, so you have a huge number of people.”

“If there’s a crisis, it was very meticulously created by Stephen Miller,” he added. “It was very intentionally created.”

Maurus told the Blade that two of his gay clients in Tijuana with active MPP cases have been “able to get out, but we’ve got a couple others who really need to and haven’t been called yet.”

“The two that I’m waiting on have just gone through hell,” said Maurus. “They should Maurus highlighted the case of 17 LGBTQ Jamaican asylum seekers in Tijuana whose request to enter the U.S. on humanitarian parole has been denied. Maurus told the Blade that each of them has a sponsor, lawyer and a place to live once they arrive in the country.

“I can bring all of them in with a COVID test,” he said. “All of them are represented.

There is no reason they couldn’t be let in tomorrow.”

Abdiel Echevarría-Cabán, a South Texas-based immigration attorney who is also a human rights law and policy expert, on Tuesday said he welcomes “the end of MPP by the Biden administration.” Echevarría-Cabán nevertheless added “the process has been hectic and there is a lot of confusion among refugees that lost their cases while in MPP who didn’t have access to an attorney or couldn’t gather the evidence they needed to prove their cases living under severe danger and inhumane conditions.”

Echevarría-Cabán said one of his clients, a gay Cuban man, entered the U.S. on the same day the Biden administration announced it had suspended MPP. Drug cartels, according to Echevarría-Cabán, threatened to kill his client if he didn’t pay them extortion money. Echevarría-Cabán told the Blade that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained his client for three weeks until they released him under supervision.

“The process of letting them cross after two years has been disorganized and there has been poor communication and coordination between UNHCR, immigrants and attorneys,” he said. “Many refugees that crossed the border out of fear ended in detention and ICE (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) is releasing them under an order of supervision.”

Steve Roth, executive director of the Organization of Refuge, Asylum and Migration, a Minnesota-based organization that works with LGBTQ refugees and migrants around the world, told the Blade the situation on the Southern border is “complicated” and “a bit of a mess.”

“Some of these policies were designed to prevent legitimate asylum seekers from making their claims,” he said, referring to the Trump administration.

“We recognize that it’s going to take some time to undo that,” added Roth. “But at the same time, it’s really important that the process reopens for asylum seekers to be able

to present their case at the border.”

Valery, a trans woman from the Honduran city of Comayagua who arrived in Matamoros last March, and other asylum seekers continue to wait for their chance to enter the U.S. “I am very happy that people are leaving, but what about us,” she told the Blade at the Rainbow Bridge shelter in Matamoros. “Where do we go? Where?”

Joaquin Castro: MPP dangerous for LGBTQ people Texas Congressman Joaquin Castro last week said the situation for asylum seekers on the U.S.-Mexico border remains perilous, even though President Biden has begun to reverse some of the previous administration’s hardline immigration policies.

“There is a real humanitarian need among the people who are seeking asylum at the southern border,” Castro told the Washington Blade during a telephone interview. “And unfortunately, over the past few years Donald Trump created a bubble of very desperate people who were unable to have their asylum claims processed and now are anxious to have their day in court, to have their asylum cases heard.”

Biden in January suspended enrollments in the Trump administration’s Migrant Protection Protocols program.

“MPP is dangerous for many folks … and that includes LGBTQ and trans folks,” said Castro. “These folks have sometimes become targets on the other side of the border.”

The U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 that Democrats introduced in Congress last month would, among other things, create a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants who are in the country.

Citizenship and Immigration Services to stop the deportation of “certain” undocumented immigrants for 100 days, but a federal judge in Texas last month blocked the moratorium.

The White House earlier this week announced it would request $4 billion in aid to mitigate the causes of migration from Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras.

“MPP of course was lifted by the Biden administration, but you still have a lot of people who are in and around the border cities in Mexico,” said Castro. “And for all folks what we are seeking to do is put people on a path to citizenship.”

Castro acknowledged Congress has debated immigration reform for years, but he “It’s still going to be tough because of the numbers in the Senate, but I think there is a greater window here now than there has been in a very long time,” he said.

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Equality Act hearing

First Senate debate features multiple attacks on bill

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

A Senate hearing on the Equality Act, which would expand the prohibition on discrimination under federal law, put on full display Wednesday the use of fear mongering about women’s safety and the integrity of women’s sports as a tool to thwart attempted progress on LGBTQ rights, although more traditional objections based on religious liberty also played a role.

Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) pulled no punches during the Senate Judiciary Committee When Abigail Shirer, a journalist who has built a career campaigning against gender transitioning for youth, was presenting testimony as an expert witness, Kennedy went straight to the locker rooms.

“Would this bill prohibit the boy with gender dysphoria from exposing his penis to the girls?” Kennedy asked.

The questioning put Shirer, who was testifying against the Equality Act, in a bind. The Equality Act does prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender identity in locker rooms, but says nothing about that particular issue and laws against lewd conduct are in place. “I’m sorry would it prohibit that?” genitalia.” Kennedy went to ask her if it prohibits them from dressing together. “No,” Shirer replied. “Would this bill prohibit them from showering together?” “No.” Kennedy then asked about boys being able to access girls’ sports.

Kennedy said he had intended to get to that point and asked her if the Equality Act would require schools to allow boys with gender dysphoria to compete in girls’ sports. Shirer incident in Connecticut where transgender girls were allowed to compete in a girls track “Many women and girls before her fought for legal protections under Title IX, which young women in my own family, so I am deeply concerned about this act’s potential The Equality Act says nothing about sports, but would prohibit discrimination against transgender people in education and federally funded programs. It should be noted the anti-LGBTQ discrimination is an illegal form of sex discrimination, has broad applications, including for Title IX of the Education Amendment of 1972, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex in sports. As a result, refusing to allow transgender kids in sports would likely already be illegal.

a public accommodation under the Equality Act. as a Republican witness and maintained churches could be held liable under the Equality

said the bill does nothing of the sort, but Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) shot back out in the Equality Act for RFRA.” “I’m aware of no other law that seeks to shred RFRA in this way, and the effect of it basically is that churches, religious ministries, Christian they’ll be unable to pursue their missions, particularly

From left, Ranking Member CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-Iowa) and Chair DICK DURBIN (D-Ill.) at the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary hearing for the Equality Act on Wednesday. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

needy,” Hawley said.

During a hearing in which Democratic members of the committee largely focused on their witnesses and be different concepts, but then concluded “it’s not limited to two,” citing for example people who are intersex.

Shirer made an attempt during the hearing to qualify her opposition to the Equality Act, saying her opposition is based on potential consequences of the bill on women’s safety.

“If S. 393 merely proposed to extend employment, and public housing rights to gay and transgender Americans, I would be supporting this bill, instead of testifying against it,” Shirer said. “I am here today because the bill does much more, and no one who wrote it Despite the issues raised by Republicans, one key moment came when Sen. Thom Tillis

still face discrimination from employment to healthcare to housing to homelessness among

Although Tillis said the Equality Act “falls short of the goal” he seeks in addressing both questions during the hearing, Tillis also lamented members of the committee “were talking past one another” about their concerns without coming closer to an ultimate conclusion. use of RFRA in cases of discrimination and whether the Equality Act’s ban on LGBTQ discrimination in federally funded programs would require prisons to house transgender women consistent with their gender identity. Tillis posed a question on whether a male said that “absolutely” would be the case.

Meanwhile, proponents of the Equality Act continued to make their case for the bill based

“Compromise your religious beliefs or risk endless litigation,” Hasson said. “Recipients bathrooms.”

Durbin (D-Ill.), contested the idea that churches would be liable, which would be consistent

the Equality Act would do,” Durbin said. “Let me be clear, those of us working to pass this on this bill are nothing more than the latest in a long, long, long line of fear mongering targeting the LGBTQ community.”

use of the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law intended to protect religious minorities, as a potential legal defense in cases of discrimination. Scolding Republican critics who indicated the Equality Act would gut RFRA, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)

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Act as a witness in the simplest way possible: Introducing herself as a transgender person.

“Hi, I’m Stella, and I’m transgender,” Keating said, “I’m here before you today, representing friends, and communities across the country.”

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By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com Attorney and longtime LGBTQ rights advocate Dean Trantalis, who is serving as the

Fort Lauderdale Mayor DEAN TRANTALIS was criticized for signing a proclamation for a church with a long anti-LGBTQ history. (Photo courtesy Twitter)

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

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Collins spells out demands for supporting Equality Act Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), whose support for the Equality Act is seen as crucial to winning Republican votes for the LGBTQ non-discrimination bill, is breaking her silence on the proposed revisions she’s demanding in exchange for her support.

Annie Clark, a Collins spokesperson, laid out the proposed changes this week after the Maine senator

support in separate facilities.

Sen. Collins also has concerns about some of the thinks that faith-based community partners, like Catholic Charities, and the important services they provide should not be unfairly excluded from receiving federal funding. and women’s sports, and also transgender rights, and she believes this complex issue needs further study.”

It’s a dilemma: If supporters of the Equality Act were to accept the proposed changes, they’d be acquiescing to exemptions for anti-LGBTQ discrimination the bill was intended to address. On the other hand, without support

Congress. Collins at the time said she wanted a revision, but didn’t specify what she was seeking.

Identifying three general areas where Collins seeks changes, Clark said Collins articulated them to the Equality Act’s supporters in the previous Congress.

“The Equality Act was a starting point for negotiations,” Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) has spelled out the and advance the legislation (unless the Democratic Clark said. “Sen. Collins cosponsored the bill last changes she’s seeking for the Equality Act. Congress with the agreement that the supporters would (Photo public domain) altogether). work together to make further changes so that the bill Additionally, Collins isn’t going anywhere for a while. could become law.”

The Maine senator recently won re-election, which means she’s set to serve a term of One change would essentially grant additional leeway for religious institutions to another six years. turn away LGBTQ people. Further, the changes would allow domestic violence shelters, In addition to articulating Collins’ proposed changes, Clark added some implicit homeless shelters and school sports teams to take sex into account when deciding to criticism of Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), the lead sponsor of the Equality Act, for refusing place transgender people in sex-segregated areas. to make changes to the bill that were promised in the previous Congress.

Here are the changes in more detail as laid out by Collins’ spokesperson: “Unfortunately, the sponsor of the Equality Act was unwilling to make any changes to “Those changes included exemptions to make clear that vital programs that serve men the bill whatsoever,” Clark said, “Sen. Collins has, therefore, decided not to cosponsor and women separately, like domestic violence and homeless shelters, could continue to CHRIS JOHNSON

Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed into law last week a bill banning the state’s transgender student athletes from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity.

Jace Pierce, a 35-year-old trans man who was born and raised in Mississippi but has since relocated to Oregon because of his wife’s job, was saddened by the news.

“I feel it just continues to further push the idea that transgender individuals are a threat and that’s dangerous,” Pierce told the Washington Blade. “I can, at times, understand some concerns that people may have but that’s only because they are uninformed.”

Reeves’ decision to sign the bill, but they remain hopeful.

“We are incredibly saddened and angered by this bill, but we are not surprised.

said the Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex unions.

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which defends Catholic teachings, a two-page decree published on its website said it cannot bless “sin.”

“It is not licit to impart a blessing on relationships, or partnerships, even stable, that involve sexual activity outside of marriage (i.e., outside the indissoluble union of a man and a woman open in itself to the transmission of life), as is the case of the unions between persons of the same sex,” reads the decree.

“The presence in such relationships of positive elements, which are in themselves to be 1 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1 • NAT I O NA L NE WS

Unfortunately, this is the climate of our state. Bigotry and hate for the LGBTQAI community are deeply woven into the tapestry that is the south,” she said. “This bill, like Counties), is one of many anti-trans measures advancing through state legislatures signed into law this year.

“This law is a solution in search of a problem, and legislators in Mississippi have not provided any examples of Mississippi transgender athletes gaming the system for a competitive advantage because none exist,” Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David said in a press release.

PHILIP VAN SLOOTEN

valued and appreciated, cannot justify these relationships and render them legitimate objects of an ecclesial blessing, since the positive elements exist within the context of a union not ordered to the Creator’s plan.”

The decree, which Pope Francis approved, is dated Feb. 22. The Congregation for publicly endorsed civil unions for same-sex couples.

“Homosexuals have a right to be a part of the family,” said Francis in “Francesco,” a documentary about his life that debuted at the Rome Film Festival on Oct. 21, 2020.

“They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out, or be made miserable because of it.” pope in 2013. Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity, however, have not changed. dubium DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways Ministry, a Maryland-based group that ministers to LGBTQ Catholics, in a statement.

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ANTONIO XU LIU is a Venezuelan-born Chinese DACA recipient who grew up in Queens, N.Y. In addition to serving as volunteer director of Out for Engineering, he is a Senior Strategy Program Manager at National Grid and lives in Brookline, Mass., with his husband.

Biden/Harris administration:

For LGBTQ Dreamers, no

Challenges await after stimulus success

Returning to pre-Trump status quo isn’t progress

world hasn’t ended. In fact contrary to the fear mongering of the Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, and QAnon, things are moving forward and getting better. We no longer wake up fearful of late night Tweets, worried we will face a new crisis of the president’s own making.

Yes, voting matters. The Democratic Congress passed the most far-reaching piece of legislation in years, The American Rescue Plan. The $1.9 trillion legislation “will provide

Last January, my partner of seven years and I married at New York City Hall. His parents and grandparents drove down from Albany, and my parents came in from Queens. After In our wedding photos, Keegan looks his handsome self in his royal blue suit. Even anniversary together and have a proper party, once our college loans are paid and we’re

vaccine distribution and development, allocate aid for schools to reopen, and expand Republicans are upset because the president actually got this legislation passed without them. They think they can attack it at will. I wonder what their constituents who cash to feed their children and take them out of poverty will think. Republicans are left being represented by racists like Sen. Lindsey Graham who attacked the bill because it One thing Republicans are saying is true: Not every section of this bill is responding directly to an issue begun by COVID. Some of the needs addressed in the legislation respond to problems that have existed for decades but were highlighted during the pandemic, like the inequity of healthcare and the inequity of poverty.

Aside from this landmark legislation, the Biden/Harris administration has taken on issues related to the LGBTQ+ community, including support for transgender members some ways faster than he thought would happen, except for his OMB nominee, Neera Then there has been the issue of the pandemic and how to move forward ensuring all Americans get vaccinated as quickly as possible. We have now reached a point where the president felt comfortable saying there will be enough vaccine available for every American over 18 by the end of May and has ordered every state to open registration for appointments to all by May 1. The American people are again being told the truth was well received and clear. He said in many ways it is up to the American people how fast we beat this pandemic. Do we keep wearing masks and protecting each other? Do say they won’t take the vaccine. Are they really that dumb?

One very tough issue on the administration’s radar has to be the thousands of children coming across the border from Mexico. According to the Washington Post, “Central American and Mexican children, tweens and teenagers traveling without and humanitarian emergency for the U.S. government. exponentially more than they could make at home. The U.S. government labels them As the administration moves beyond its success passing the stimulus bill things will

When Keegan and I married, we did so with a sense of destiny, grateful to all those who hasn’t made my life that much more secure. And that’s because of my immigration administration initiated DACA through an Executive Order. The program allows those who are undocumented and were brought into the country as children, have graduated high school, and have passed a background check, to legally work, attend college, or serve in the military without fear of deportation. My mother sought to escape the violence of including several hours in the trunk of a car and hiding ourselves in a muddy trench until the sun set. program, and through it we have contributed mightily to the U.S., the only country most

Four years of relentless attacks by the Trump administration have left Dreamers and to fortifying DACA, which was a welcome step. But the program continues to face legal challenges, with a likely negative court decision that could be released any day now. What Dreamers truly need is not a return to the pre-Trump status quo, but real and permanent Without a pathway to citizenship, Dreamers will continue to experience unequal treatment in this country, to which we have given our hearts and souls. Many of us worry about being deported to countries that we don’t know, where we have no family, and in the case of LGBTQ individuals, where we may face persecution.

My ambitions require contingency plans. Last year, after studying for three months for told that I couldn’t take it because my driver’s license didn’t count as valid ID. I needed to present either a Green Card, which I can’t legally possess, or a non-expired passport, which Despite my gratitude for gay marriage, it has not secured my equality. Without a chance for citizenship, I, like my fellow Dreamers, remain excluded from the opportunity to live

the House like HR 1 the ‘For the People Act’ or voting rights act, could stall. Other bills on gun control, immigration, and infrastructure could see the same fate.

continues. By and large, my life has gone well. I’m in the U.S., I have an education, I can’t be

administration will continue to move us forward.

equality will only occur when Keegan and I can build a stable future without fear of being separated.

1 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1 • V I E WP O I NT

advertorial LUAI QUBAIN in Jordan, where he was forced to lead a double life as

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secret. That was par for the course in Jordan. Coming out as gay was completely out of the question; it was a death sentence. The Kingdom is full of closeted people, time.

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There are a few scattered gay cafes and bars around the capital where we when there aren’t any tourists stopping by, but we still had to be terribly careful. The police can’t arrest you for just being gay, but they can lock you up for “disrupting public morality” if you kiss your partner in public. sexual predator and endured years of abuse from him, I had no recourse, nowhere

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Today

MAYOR BOWSER presents the Queer Women of Washington Awards in conjunction ith the Ma or of e of LGBTQ Affairs and the Washington Blade.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Atlas Performing Arts Center presents a live virtual performance by Andrew Earle Simpson

HRC hosts LGBTQ vaccine town hall March 18 The Human Rights Campaign hosts a virtual town hall discussion with Dr. Anthony Fauci and other leading

a WWI African-American pilot and features an allAfrican-American cast. Simpson co-founded the Atlas Performing Arts Center’s Silent Film Series where he is the curator and resident musician. For free tickets to this and other events, visit atlasarts.org.

“For Ourselves, For Each Other: Getting to the Other Side of the Pandemic” features HRC President Alphonso David with a panel of health justice, health

Saturday, March 20 Kylie Disco Fever presented by DJ Travis Island is tonight at 9 p.m. via Twitch. This free online event features Kylie Minogue music, videos and chat

Mayor Bowser honors queer women in D.C. March 25

more details.

Sunday, March 21 Freddie’s Beach Bar is serving weekend brunch on the patios and indoors, or takeout orders are available for curbside pickup today at 11 a.m. Guests ahead at 703-685-0555 for dining information.

Baltimore’s Annual LGBTQ Seder is today at 5 p.m. This free virtual event

com or the event’s Facebook page.

Monday, March 22 Transmasculine and Nonbinary Chat, Chill and Game night is today at 5 p.m. This free virtual event is hosted by the DC-area Transmasculine Society and is open to trans and nonbinary folks as well as their friends, spouses and allies of any gender. For more information, visit dcats.org.

A women, trans and gender non-conforming roundtable hosted by the Musical Theatre Factory is tonight at 6 p.m. This monthly virtual drop-in group is based in New York and provides a space for participants who come industry to be more accepting and inclusive. For more information, visit mtf. nyc.

Tuesday, March 23 The Woman’s National Democratic Club presents a virtual discussion with politician and voting rights activist Stacey Abrams today at noon. This free event features Abrams sharing lessons for Georgia and other voting battlegrounds in future elections. For more information, visit the event’s Facebook page.

Wednesday, March 24

Thursday, March 25 at 6:30 p.m. host a 2020 ceremony due to the onset of the pandemic.

Facebook and Eventbrite.

D.C. library hosts ‘Southwest of Salem’ screening Twitter discussion of “Southwest of Salem” Friday, March 26 at 7p.m. in 1997 for rape during a wave of Satanic-related accusations during the 1980s and 1990s.

For more information and to register for this event, visit communityaffairs.dc.gov/

Portrait Gallery hosts Women’s History Month Festival is Magic” Saturday, March 27 at 11 a.m.

This virtual celebration highlights a diverse group of women leaders in the areas of sports, arts science and activism and is a part of an all-day festival featuring workshops, speakers, art activities and more for all ages.

A virtual writing hour where writers can draw inspiration from portraits of Madame CJ Walker and Alice Dunbar Nelson closes the event at 4 p.m. The Portrait Gallery will provide writing prompts and an online space for writers to work and connect with others.

For free tickets and more information, visit npg.si.edu.

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A free virtual Shakespearean Comedy Panel hosted by P&P Live! is Saturday, March 27 at 7 p.m. It costs $10 to receive the access code to view the performance and access the online tip jar. com.

Thursday, March 25 The Queer Book Club meets tonight at 7 p.m. via Skype. This group authors. This week’s book is “The Carpet Weaver’’ by Nemat Sadat and the group hopes to invite the author for a chat. More information is available at thedccenter.org.

2 4 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1

This year they are teaming up with performers from the Miss Adams Morgan Pageant to raise funds while enjoying March Madness. and Pitchers. To participate, patrons can purchase March Madness Party Packs for pick up or delivery and help the scholarship fund.

The Miss Adams Morgan Pageant is planned for Oct. 30 and the theme for this year is rallyup.com/marchmadness/Campaign or the event’s Facebook page.

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COVID upended Himitsu founder’s life — so she pivoted Finding power as an out lesbian entrepreneur

By EVAN CAPLAN

Perhaps no other industry has changed more from the pandemic than the restaurant industry – and few other local restaurateurs made bigger life changes from the pandemic than Carlie Steiner.

In 2016 and barely into her mid-20s, Steiner co-founded the award-winning and highly creative Himitsu, one of D.C.’s most lauded restaurants. wo additional eateries and five ears later, Steiner has left the restaurant world.

“COVID didn’t change my plans,” she says. “It changed my entire life.”

In early 2020, Steiner was running Pom Pom (which replaced Himitsu after co-owner Kevin Tien left to pursue his own projects) as well as Mexican restaurant Dos Mamis (with coowner Anna Bran-Leis), located directly across the street from Pom Pom. She had been named 30 Under 30 by Forbes, and Himitsu was listed in Bon Appétit’s 50 Best New Restaurants list and won Eater’s Restaurant of the Year in 2017. Steiner was recognized as a leader behind the bar and for her work in hiring and supporting LGBTQ employees.

Yet Steiner now admits that “being ‘the best’ consumed me, to my detriment. I lost myself over the past few years and was feeling incredibly disconnected. I’m not sure I could even see it at the time. I would still be there, had this pandemic never happened, miserable, and over-committing to everything. I would have never left the industry.”

When Pom Pom shuttered due to pandemic restrictions, Steiner turned the space into a makeshift grocery. Realizing that she couldn’t reopen for normal business, Steiner decided to formally close Pom Pom in May. She launched Seco Cocktails, an online shop that sold wine and liquor bundles. Steiner soon began to offer virtual cocktail classes through Seco Cocktails as well. The move to virtual-only work brought clarity to her career, Steiner says, and negated the need to be physically present at the restaurants. She and her partner decided that their next move would be to leave D.C. altogether, settling in nearby Annapolis in a new home. ven virtuall , find human connection essential, and there is no more significant wa to gain human connection than through the art of food and beverage,” she says.

But the restaurant industry ended up being an enormous challenge. “You can’t divorce food from politics and culture, and I always wanted to keep high standards. Though I got disheartened by the strict mindset of being a restaurateur, I feel like I can do anything now.”

Steiner describes years of microaggression, misogyny, homophobia, and other similar experiences as a woman and a lesbian in the industry. “People would walk into the restaurant and go to the first man the saw, assuming wasn t the owner,” she says.

In several business meetings, she notes different treatment for being a lesbian, which has felt empowering. “During these meetings, men treat me differently than other women. At the same time, I have a huge passing privilege about being gay.”

“It’s a privilege to be straight-passing, giving me the option to disclose my sexuality when it suits me and hide it when it doesn’t.

For these reasons alone, I feel being gay has given me strength, resilience, and power.”

Moving out of the day-to-day restaurant work, Steiner has “fallen in love with the education process. I can be part of other people’s success and education, and help empower minorities and women.”

2 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1

Her business Seco Cocktails “makes the cocktail experience as accessible as possible for all kinds of enthusiasts,” she says.

Right now, Steiner teaches public classes ($30) on a diversity of course themes, from Aperitifs and Digestifs to Intro to Tiki. She also offers small private classes for birthdays or other events, and sells funky wall prints and visuals with her own recipes ($8).

The pandemic “changed the way I think, how I spend my time, the people I spend with whom I spend it.”

“At the time, I was devastated to lose everything for which I had worked my whole life. Now, I see that it was the best thing that could have ever happened to me.”

CARLIE STEINER co-founded the award-winning and highly creative Himitsu. (Photo courtesy Steiner)

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‘Aretha’ arrives

New National Geographic bioseries is musical, visual delight

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO | joeyd@washblade.com

“Genius: Aretha,” a new seven-episode installment of National Geographic’s “Genius” series is a feast for the eyes and ears. With stellar performances, stunning cinematography, impressive period detail and rousing musical performances, there’s a lot here

And the back and forth between child/adultperiod Aretha also works better than you might think. ping-pongy on some shows, but not here.

There are two problems and sadly they are

The long-delayed return of the series follows previous seasons “Einstein” and “Picasso.” “Aretha” debuts Sunday, March 21 on the National Geographic channel at 9 p.m. Subsequent installments will be

Suzan-Lori Parks, who won the Pulitzer in 2001 for her play “Topdog/Underdog,” often feels leaden and Although brief, there are several scenes that make

Pushed back from a May 2020 premiere due to COVID-induced production delays, the series stars Cynthia Erivo — who’s only been acting since 2011 and is already just an Oscar short of EGOT status — as adult Aretha while Shaian Jordan plays young Aretha Each episode pivots between “young” and “adult” Aretha. She works on her breakthrough 1967 Atlantic

Listening to another singer tackle “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” in the “Amazing Grace” episode, Cleveland, who’d mentored Franklin as a teen, says, “You can’t just outsing ‘em, you gotta outshine ‘em Aretha Franklin (CYNTHIA ERIVO) records her breakthrough album in Alabama in ‘Genius: Aretha.’ (Photo by Richard DuCree, courtesy National Geographic)

“Respect” while troublemaking husband Ted White (Malcolm Barrett) creates needless Young Aretha goes off with her father (Rev. C.L. Franklin, a famous pastor of his day, played by Courtney B. Vance) in second episode “Until the Right Thing Comes Along” One of the series’ best passages follows young Aretha and singer Sammie Bryant (Tonya Renee Banks) as they sneak out to a nightclub to see Sam Cooke and get busted Episode six, “Amazing Grace,” is named after her double-platinum (the biggest seller Franklin ever had in a long career) gospel album and relays its — according to the series Everything, though, is turbulent in Franklin’s adult life in “Genius,” the effect of which, the series contends, is the loss of the singer’s mother at age 6 and a loving, nurturing but Franklin, who died in 2018, would undoubtedly hate this series. Although the singer longed to have her life story made into a biopic, she was famous for sugarcoating her past (her memoir “From These Roots” reads like a self-penned hagiography). Anyone who dared to challenge her recollections, such as David Ritz in his 2015 book “Respect: So that’s not a criticism. It’s sad to say, but it’s probably best that Franklin did not live to see this series or the upcoming biopic “Respect,” due for a summer release, in which Much about the series works. The period detail is almost as good as “Mad Men.” Erivo, who does her own singing, is one of probably very few people on the planet who could both sing and act the demanding part and the supporting cast is uniformly strong.

Vance is especially good as Rev. Franklin as is Omar J. Dorsey as Rev. James Cleveland,

Keep your promise to protect each other 2 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1

It’s a bizarre non sequitur that feels like Parks

down-homey proverb as an attempt at character development. Aretha has just pulled the plug on the project and we’re not told what she’s thinking or feeling. We know Cleveland, who already invested time on the arrangements, is hoping she’ll change her mind (which she does) but in the moment, the scene makes little sense.

In another scene, young Aretha is twirling around the room singing into hairbrushes with her sisters, Erma (Aubriana Davis) and Carolyn (Sydney Hunter). Grandmother Rachel (Pauletta Washington), who raised them, calls them for church. Her sisters leave and young ‘Re dissolves into tears. Nothing prompts it. We’re supposed to realize that music is Franklin’s only real joy. When it stops, she could collapse into tears at any moment. Despite solid execution, it feels forced and clunky. The pacing also drags at Erivo also fails to bring Franklin fully to life, but it’s more the fault of the writing. Her Aretha is an imperious bitch who usually doesn’t react to good news, scowls when anyone dares challenge her, rarely raises her voice except in song and seems utterly One might argue that’s appropriate for that period in Franklin’s life. One of the main takeaways from Ritz’s book was there was the life Franklin wanted the public to think she had and the one she actually had. It’s obvious Parks and the team here did their But despite the great cast, the gleaming cinematography and the show-stopping soundtrack, the actual dramatization is missing something. The real Aretha, it’s no secret, could be an imperious bitch. That’s all fair game. She was also, at times, her own saboteur. She was a complicated person. Parks and company do a noble job trying to peel back the layers, they just never quite get there. It may be an impossible job but a good biopic — especially at this luxurious length — should leave you with a tad more insight.

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Diverse Oscar slate lacking queer nominees Academy snubs groundbreaking ‘Welcome to Chechnya’

By JOHN PAUL KING

After 93 years of the Academy Awards, we should have a good idea of what to expect from them by now. Not which movies and players will earn those coveted nominations and trophies, of course; we can predict who the winners and losers will be, and we can even be right most of the time, but there will always be surprises. That’s because the Oscars are subject to the changing whims and internal politics of the Academy’s voting body, a and ambitions.

In a larger scope, though, that’s exactly why it’s possible to know that more than they do the comparative excellence of whichever crop of movies happens to win its favor. That’s not because of some mystical barometer that aligns the aesthetics of the industry’s artists with those of the world at large.

It’s because the Academy Awards are all about Hollywood, and Hollywood is all about the bottom line. If the Oscars don’t give the people what they want, the people might not go to the movies as much – and that ensures that the Academy, like the industry it promotes, is bound by an imperative to please as many people (or, more cynically, customers) as possible. Consequently, the winners, whoever or whatever they may be, can be counted on to represent the zeitgeist of their era, every time.

Unfortunately, movies take a long time to get made. That means that when a major cultural shift happens quickly, it takes a while for it to trickle down been playing a perpetual game of catch-up they can never quite seem to win.

For a large segment of the population, it might certainly look like they came close with this year’s nominations. For a year in which tremendous social upheaval has brought the Black experience in America to the forefront of the public conversation, the Academy has chosen to recognize an impressive offers the most diverse lineup of nominees in its history. Not only that, the concerns of the Me Too and Times Up movements are represented by the inclusion of “Promising Young Woman” among the Best Picture contenders Young Woman”) and Chloé Zhao (“Nomadland”) – as Best Director. On top receive a Best Actor nod, and in the same category, Riz Ahmed (“The Sound any acting category.

In the middle of all this diversity, however, an all-too-familiar sting of disappointment can be felt in the conspicuous dearth of LGBTQ nominees.

Two of the nominees for Best Actress, Viola Davis and Andra Day, were both nominated for portraying real-life bisexual music icons in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” and “The United States vs. Billie Holiday,” respectively.

Lena Waithe) who referred to her girlfriend in a single line of dialogue, was nominated for Best Animated Feature.

Nominated for Best Live Action Short was “Two Distant Strangers,” bisexual Day” style story about a guy who keeps dying after encountering police racial violence.

Now, for the bad news, here’s the (longer) list of expected queer nominees was considered a strong contender for Best Original Song.

“Two Of Us,” the French drama about a longtime lesbian couple facing separation due to a health crisis, was snubbed as Best International Feature, despite being shortlisted in the category.

Out director Pedro Almodóvar’s “The Human Voice” failed to earn a nomination for Best Live Action Short.

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NATASHA LYONNE and Best Actress nominee AUDRA DAY in ‘The United States vs. Billie Holiday.’

(Photo courtesy of Hulu)

In the Best Animated short category, neither Pixar’s “Out” nor the Hawaiian third-gender tale “Kapaemahu” earned a nod.

Out of the 20 nominees in the four acting categories, not a single LGBTQidentifying person was nominated. television, was not among the nods for Best Documentary Feature.

Perhaps most egregiously, David France’s timely and acclaimed “Welcome to Chechnya” was also left out of the Best Documentary Feature category (for (for its use of groundbreaking digital identity protection technology).

While it’s not – or shouldn’t be, at any rate – a competition between underrepresented groups to see who can snag the most nominations, and while the long-overdue recognition being given to women and communities of color is something to be unequivocally celebrated in the spirit of solidarity, it still cannot be overlooked that the Academy snubbed almost every one of several presumptive LGBTQ nominees. but include it as part of an authentic portrayal of who they are – is worth noting as proof that we’ve come a long way in our quest for inclusion and acceptance on the screen, as is the LGBTQ presence in such nominated in a supporting role. a running tally of the amount of representation we are given in the stories on our screens, it will only by raising our voices to remind the Academy – and by extension, the entertainment industry – that we expect them to do better.

In the meantime, there’s no reason we can’t stand on the sidelines and cheer for the victories achieved by representatives of other communities who, like us, have long been left out of the frame when Hollywood turns everything right.

The full list of nominees can be found in any number of places online,

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‘Simply Sondheim’ packed with thrilling moments

By PATRICK FOLLIARD Standing alone on a bare stage, Conrad Ricamora feelingly sings “Finishing the Hat,” Broadway composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s poignant paean to the obsessive artist from his stunning masterwork “Sunday in the Park with George.”

CONRAD RICAMORA in This is just one of many ‘Simply Sondheim’ at Signature thrilling moments in Theatre. (Photo by Christopher Mueller) Signature Theatre’s “Simply Sondheim,” ‘Simply Sondheim’ now streaming through Streaming on Marquee TV March 26. through March 26 As one of 12 sublime Tickets for a 72-hour stream singers, Ricamora, are $35 the gay actor who Sigtheatre.org until recently played Oliver Hampton, a gay HIV+ lawyer on TV’s “How to Get Away with Murder” delight musical theater fans with more than 30 tunes from the Sondheim canon.

Dedicated to the memory of Victor Shargai, a great Signature supporter who along with his husband never

the company’s MAX theatre over three days in November.

Testing, distancing, and masks were strictly observed. As the show begins, you immediately notice accomplished 16-person orchestra – also masked, except those musicians playing brass and woodwinds. concert, superbly directed and choreographed by Signature’s associate director Matthew Gardiner, spans through 50 years of work, brilliantly articulating emotions and exploring relationships from tortuous to stale. Some songs take on new meaning, seemingly tailored for the current world. effortless. The singers – top notch all - include Broadway’s Norm Lewis, Solea Pfeiffer, Emily Skinner, and the previously mentioned Ricamora along with Signature stalwarts Bobby Smith, Donna Migliaccio, Tracy Lynn Olivera, Christopher Mueller, Awa Sal Secka, Paul Scanlan, Nicholas McDonough, Olivera’s considerable talent is showcased with songs ranging from the tender ballad “Goodbye for Now” from the patter song “I’m Not Getting Married Today” from “Company.”

Other songs from “Company” include “You Could Drive a Person Crazy” sung by Sal Secka, Mariko Murray, and, again, Olivera; Skinner’s enjoyably boozy and embittered “The Ladies Who Lunch”; and later, Lewis’ rich and powerful

McDonough is a standout singing “It’s intolerable being tolerated” in young Henryk’s song “Later” from “A Little Night Summer Night.”

Migliaccio and Smith, the always-entertaining baritenor who pretty much anchors the show, sing the parts of disaffected middle-aged mates bored by their relationship and perhaps life with “Country House” from “Follies,” followed

by Migliaccio’s “Could I Leave You?” also from “Follies.” It’s a chance to enjoy some inimitable Sondheim lyrics: “Could I bury my rage with a boy half your age/ In the grass? / Bet your ass.”

Migliaccio also memorably serves up some Mrs. Lovett with “The Worst Pies in London” from “Sweeney Todd,” a role she’s played in the past at Signature.

Signature’s relationship with Sondheim runs deep. Over the last thirty years, the Tony Award-winning Arlington theater has produced more of Sondheim’s work than any other theater in the country. And 90-year-old composer, who lives who lives with his husband in New York, gave Signature that was created especially for them.

Outstandingly conceived and executed, the work is entirely absorbing whether viewed on your laptop or an Happily, there’s still time to catch Signature splendid “Simply Sondheim.” And while this recommendation is late in coming, its enthusiasm is undimmed.

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Sport sedans make spirited return Forget crossovers, these models are a thrill

By JOE PHILIPS

Remember four-door sedans? Once upon a time, they ruled the road. But today the buzz is all about crossovers and SUVs. Last year Ford phased out most of its sedans, and cars were only 8% of GM’s retail sales. Case closed, or so it seemed. After recently testing the all-new Kia K5 and a restyled Mercedes E 450 for a week, I was blown away with how a true sport sedan—done just right—is still a thrill ride. Perhaps Nietzsche said it best: What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

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Gay magician Michael Carbonaro would feel right at home at Kia. The automaker keeps pulling rabbits out of the hat with dazzling vehicles at affordable prices. Such is the case with the all-new K5, which replaces the once-formidable Optima midsize sedan. Optima sales slid some 40% the past few years as consumers gobbled up crossovers, so Kia sprinkled pixie dust on the sheet metal to come up with styling that borrows heavily from the high-test Stinger muscle sedan. The result is a snotty-nosed grille on the K5, along with zig-zag headlights and a cascading rear that evokes a sexy fastback coupe.

Yet the base price is $10,000 less than a Stinger. The K5 also gets better gas mileage and comes with more standard safety gear, including automatic emergency braking, forward collision warning, driver attention warning, pedestrian detection and other goodies. There’s even a rear-occupant alert—an audible reminder to check the backseat when exiting the vehicle—and a safe-exit system to prevent rear passengers from opening doors into vehicles approaching from behind. The base four-cylinder turbo is dandy, especially for daily commutes. But to unleash your inner speed demon, the GT model boasts a lustier engine, bigger brakes, sportier suspension and wider tires. No, this isn’t a BMW 5 Series sedan, but the GT’s ride and handling are close. The interior on all trim levels looks chic, with a sculpted dash full of user-friendly knobs and switches, tasteful wood trim and smartphone integration. Among the many options: all-wheel drive, heated/ventilated seats, ambient lighting, panoramic sunroof and a 10.25-inch touchscreen. I also enjoyed bopping to tunes on the premium 12-speaker Bose stereo,

If your queer eye craves lots of glitz and glamour, there’s the Mercedes E 450. At almost three times the price of a Kia K5, this swanky sport sedan has a split personality: sportster wannabe versus luxe-like land yacht. Yet the vibe works, combining jazzierthan-expected styling with a boatload of amenities.

The effortless acceleration and engaging steering are sublime, especially when dodging potholes and wayward delivery trucks. And the richly appointed cabin brought

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two ginormous 12.3-inch screens: one for the digital instrument cluster and another for all the infotainment gizmos. You can even add augmented reality navigation, with turn-by-turn directions ala Waze. Other options include rapid-heat front seats, heated armrests and heated front center console, as well as a 360-degree bird’s-eye camera, rear sunshade and Burmester surround-sound stereo with 23 speakers. The caressed and stimulated me in sinful ways.

Alas, some of the creature comforts are almost too high tech, like the touchy steeringwheel audio controls and numerous options for accessing and updating channels and infotainment system was more intuitive from the get-go. Still, such quibbles turned out to be minor. As with the Kia K5, the Mercedes E 450 was a real pleasure to drive.

Despite—or because of—fewer sedans on the road these days, both rides were also turning a lot of heads. That’s the power of retro rides, when everything old becomes new again.

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Delaware beach real estate market is hot Low inventory as locals optimistic for busy summer season

By LEE ANN WILKINSON

More than any other year in recent memory, all of us are looking forward to spring and the change of seasons, the promise of warmth, and eternal hope that this spring will be different from last year. While vaccinations are rolling out, beach businesses are If the real estate market is a key indicator, we do not need a crystal ball or Magic 8 Ball: “Signs point to YES.” Perhaps initially unpredictably, the national real estate market overall has been highly dynamic since the onset of last spring’s COVID-19 quarantine. Here at the beach, we were initially unsure of how a largely second-home and retirement market might fare in a pandemic. To our relief, then surprise, then astonishment, the market not only If the initially necessary work-from-home culture is a luxury you can continue, if you are in a position to retire, or if you are starting with a clean slate and want to make taxfree Delaware your home, you may be considering a move to the beach. And whether you are thinking of a full-time relocation or of an investment, any local Realtor is happy to speak with you.

Whether you are buying or selling, here are tips either to make the strongest offer or price your home competitively:

The total number of single-family homes on the market county-wide at the end of February 2021 was 650, which is down 13% from the month prior.

Last year, the average sale price countywide was $401,340; so far this year it is $495,247 (up 23%). In 2020, the average days on market was 87 and this year so far it is 58 (a 33% reduction).

Anecdotally, since the start of quarantine last year, we received multiple offers on about 30% of our listings - compared to about 2% in 2019. That trend continues to rise in 2021. Competitive listings (desirable properties in terms of condition, amenities, location, and price) are selling faster than local real estate agents can market and advertise them - from the moment they hit the MLS. This claim sounds like hyperbole or a sales tactic, but it is absolutely true. The beach real estate market is extremely competitive right now.

The inventory breakdown between resale homes and new construction is 50/50. Many brand new communities are springing up adjacent to Route 1 and just a few minutes’ drive in many cases to downtown Rehoboth Beach and historic Lewes, Bethany, Milton, and beyond. When houses do become available, there is a wide range in price, and all price points are selling - from the $200s to $1+million homes.

While these current conditions sound discouraging for buyers, take heart! If you are looking to buy a home at the beach, the best strategy is to be prepared: Consider connecting with a local mortgage lender who can give you helpful

Rehoboth’s iconic boardwalk is open and locals are expecting a busy summer after lockdowns. lade le hoto

Lee Ann Wilkinson

is a Realtor and CEO of The Lee Ann Wilkinson Group of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Gallo Realty. Reach her via leeanngroup.com.

3 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • MARCH 19, 2 0 2 1 • B US I NE S S

• current listings in your price and features parameters, and keep you updated.

want to have put your best foot forward from the start to make your offer stand out. And while often “best” means highest price, certain “clean” features in terms of contingencies

Rehoboth Beach resident, you know weather is slower to catch up. Our best tip for your next visit is to dress in layers, pack a sweatshirt or sweater, and don’t forget your mask.

Happy spring!

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Michael’s average days on market

103.4% Leveraging repeat business and a steady stream of referrals, Michael’s past performance has paved the way for the success he enjoys today. Adopting a hands-on approach, Michael ensures that each transaction is seamless from start to finish.

Michael’s average list to sale price

Michael loves that in real estate, no one day is the same, and he’s prepared for anything — whether it be an unexpected barrier to tackle or a new chance to go above and beyond for his clients.

Compass is a licensed real estate brokerage that abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Compass is licensed as Compass Real Estate in DC and as Compass in Virginia and Maryland. 1232 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20007 |202.448.9002

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