Washington Blade, Volume 56, Issue 33, August 15, 2025
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Trump takes control of MPD, deploys National Guard in D.C.
President Donald Trump announced plans to wrest control of the Metropolitan Police Department and said he will dispatch 800 D.C. National Guard troops to patrol the city’s streets.
In a press conference Monday, the president — flanked by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel, and other administration officials — claimed the moves were necessary with Washington overrun by “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth.”
Data shows violent crime is falling, not rising, in D.C. The city’s Metropolitan Police Department reported a 30-year low in 2024 with rates dropping by an additional 26 percent in early 2025, and homicides down 12 percent year-over-year.
A White House official said the takeover is supposed to last for 30 days. White House staff secretary Will Scharf said the president signed two executive orders Monday morning, the first using a section of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act to place the city’s police department under federal control, and the second allowing Hegseth to deploy the National Guard.
Trump and the secretary said the military will be called in “if needed.”
Local officials disputed the president’s characterization of crime in Washington and objected to his take-
over of policing in the city. D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb called Trump’s actions “unprecedented, unnecessary, and unlawful,” pledging to “do what’s necessary to protect the rights and safety of District residents.”
During an interview on MSNBC Sunday, D.C Mayor Muriel Bowser said White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s claims that the nation’s capital was “more violent than Baghdad” were “hyperbolic and false.”
“We’re going to keep talking to the president, working with his people on the issues that are high priority for him,” Bowser said. “Now, if the priority is to show force in an American city, we know he can do that here. But it won’t be because there’s a spike in crime.”
At the same time, the mayor acknowledged that there was a spike in crime in 2023, when D.C. recorded its highest homicide total in more than two decades and saw significant increases in carjackings and other offenses. The city has continued to grapple with youth-involved crimes, particularly armed robberies and car thefts committed by teenagers.
The District’s LGBTQ residents are protected from discrimination under the tenets of the D.C. Human Rights Act, and from bias in the criminal justice system through the Metropolitan Police Department’s LGBT Liaison Unit.
A White House spokesperson declined to comment
beyond the president’s statements on the MPD when asked whether the administration is considering any action that would affect the law or MPD’s LGBTLU.
Cesar Toledo, executive director of the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services for homeless LGBTQ youth, told the Blade “I’m definitely concerned about the future for the LGBTQ+ community here in the District.”
“Overall, we’ve been seeing an unprecedented scale of attacks on the community from the federal government,” Toledo said. “So, an overtake of the District of Columbia, which has long been a safe haven for members of our community, is definitely concerning.”
CHRISTOPHER KANE
Trump takeover sparks outrage among LGBTQ advocates
As President Donald Trump pushes forward with his takeover of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department using federal agents, local LGBTQ leaders are sounding the alarm.
Trump on Monday invoked Section 740 of the D.C. Home Rule Act to “declare a crime emergency” in the District and began sending 800 National Guard troops to patrol the nation’s capital.
Multiple leaders in the District have criticized Trump for using misleading statistics to justify this power grab, one that will disproportionately impact Black, brown, and LGBTQ residents.
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser initially tried to reframe Trump’s takeover as something that could benefit the District, saying to “make the most of the additional officer support that we have” during a Tuesday meeting
with Attorney General Pam Bondi. She later began to backtrack on that statement.
“This is a time where community needs to jump in and we all need to, to do what we can in our space, in our lane, to protect our city and to protect our autonomy, to protect our Home Rule, and get to the other side of this guy, and make sure we elect a Democratic House so that we have a backstop to this authoritarian push,” Bowser said in a virtual meeting with local leaders later that day.
One of those local leaders, Ward 5 Council member Zachary Parker, called the Trump administration’s claims of “bloodthirsty criminals” and “roving mobs of wild youth” unsubstantiated and a distraction from “the bigger game in motion.”
In two separate Instagram posts, Parker — the District’s only openly LGBTQ Council member — called the move more about Trump “flexing” his power over a Democratic stronghold than fixing any issues of crime.
“The suggestion that crime is out of control is not supported by data,” Parker wrote Tuesday on his personal account, citing Department of Justice data from earlier this year showing the president’s claims are unsubstantiated. “Violent crime hit a 30-year low in 2024,” he continued, citing Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) data showing a 26% decrease in violent crime in the past year alone.
In another post, Parker called the tactic by the Trump administration a stark move that echoes the dictatorial takeovers of history.
“The raids today from those in power are derivatives of the instruments of power that have policed neighborhoods since the ’70s,” his second post said. “The ploy to seize capitals and collapse power traces back to colonial times and, more recently, Hungary and Turkey.”
The D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition, comprised of multiple organizations and advocates that fight for resources supporting LGBTQ residents — including trans people of color, low-income individuals, those with disabilities, and migrants — called this an “attack on D.C. autonomy.”
“This is a blatant violation of D.C.’s right to self-govern and a dangerous escalation rooted in political theater, not public safety,” the coalition’s official statement read. “We stand with local community leaders and other advocates fighting for D.C. to be free (including our evergreen fight for statehood), and all who reject this federal overreach… This move is not about safety, but about control and fear.”
The statement also echoed Council member Parker’s point that both federal and local data show a decline in violent crime despite massive budget cuts to the city prompted by Trump.
“Crime is down — the data is clear. And any attempts to combat the District’s issues were directly thwarted during the federal budget battles that forced our government to cut $1 billion from the local budget.”
The letter, sent to coalition members and supporters, explicitly called these actions anti-LGBTQ and anti-people of color.
“This kind of horrific federal overreach will inevitably cause the most irrevocable harm to our Black, brown, immigrant, and LGBTQ+ siblings — communities who already bear the brunt of systemic violence, over-policing, and underinvestment,” the email said.
“As LGBTQ+ advocates working to ensure equitable investment in our communities, we know that safety comes from housing, healthcare, and justice — and we will not demonize those most vulnerable in this city.”
JOE REBERKENNY
PRESIDENT TRUMP this week announced a federal takeover of D.C. police. (Screen capture via NBC News/YouTube)
Protesters call out president Trump’s federal takeover of D.C. police in Dupont Circle on Monday. (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
Wanda Alston Foundation launches culinary program for youth
‘Slay and Sauté’ launched in Southeast D.C. community
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
D.C.’s Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and support services for homeless LGBTQ youth, on Aug. 11 officially launched a culinary program aimed at training LGBTQ youth with cooking skills for future employment.
With about 25 supporters looking on, Alston Foundation Executive Director Cesar Toledo described the program’s goals in a kitchen filled with cooking utensils and supplies of food in one of the buildings at the Wayne Place Apartments, a group of small apartment buildings on the 100 block of Wayne Place, S.E., where the Alston Foundation’s 20 youth clients currently live.
Located in the city’s Congress Heights neighborhood, Toledo said the LGBTQ youth clients occupy 10 apartments at the apartment complex. The apartment where Toledo and other Alston Foundation officials hosted visitors on Aug. 11 had been converted into office space, with the kitchen set up for the culinary training.
“They began the lessons today, making smoothies, and air frying chicken wings,” he told the Washington Blade.
Toledo reminded the visitors that the Alston Foundation, founded in 2008, is among the organizations working on addressing homelessness among LGBTQ youth,
who he noted make up 40 percent of the homeless youth in D.C. according to studies.
“It’s a national crisis. And we see it firsthand here in the District of Columbia,” he told the gathering. “So, I’m happy to report that after today, we’ve raised over 60 percent of our goal,” he said, in referring to the fundraising effort or the Alston Foundation’s strategic plan, which he said has been named Queer Legacy, Bold Future.
Toledo said $17,500 had been raised so far, with the D.C. Front Runners Pride Run 5K Foundation, an LGBTQ sports organization, donating $16,000. He said the remaining $1,500 was donated by Wegmans.
Among other things, the funds have been used to purchase for use by the Alston Foundation youth residents “air fryers, rice cookers, smoothie blenders, healthy food, and condiments,” Toledo said in an earlier statement.
Among those attending the Aug. 11 gathering and expressing support for the program were Japer Bowles, director of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs; Chris Holland, community engagement and communications manager for Wegmans; Belinda Pearson, operations manager for the Alston Foundation; David Perruzza, owner of the D.C. LGBTQ bars Pitchers and League of Her Own; and Max Finland, property manag-
er for the Wayne Place Apartments.
“This is a great opportunity for a program, and I love the ingenuity of it and its direct results for our residents who need skills and need to feed themselves,” Bowles said. “So, this is really cool.”
Delaware’s first openly gay elected official dies at 66
John Brady, the first openly gay elected official in Delaware, passed away in his home on Aug. 10 at age 66 after battling a long illness.
Brady was a deputy attorney general and was elected to three Sussex County offices: register in chancery, recorder of deeds, and clerk of the peace.
While clerk of the peace, Brady performed the first legal same-sex marriages in the state starting in July 2013. He told a local radio station just last week that he performed more than 400 marriages in his four-year term.
“John married my husband and me on the beach in Rehoboth 11 years ago,” said Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff. “He took great time and care in crafting our
nuptials. It was a beautiful moment we will never forget. John was a pioneer for the LGBTQ community in Delaware, a dedicated public servant, and a gentleman. He will be missed.”
The day before he passed away on Aug. 9, former Speaker of the House Pete Schwartzkopf and former Lt. Gov. Bethany Hall-Long presented Brady with Delaware’s highest civilian honor for individuals who meet a high standard for community service, the Order of the First State.
Brady retired in 2024 after 32 years as a member of the Delaware Bar and 16 as a state employee. He was also active in the Eagle Scouts, working as a Scout lead-
er and professional scouter. He received the Founder’s Award in 2023, one of the highest honors.
“Delaware mourns the passing of John Brady, a true public servant, trailblazer, and dear friend to many,” Gov. Matt Meyer wrote in a statement on Aug 11. “From his dedication to justice and service through the law to the barriers he broke as Delaware’s first openly gay elected official, John fought with compassion to improve our state and touched countless lives in the process. Lauren’s and my prayers are with John’s family and friends, as we all mourn his passing and celebrate his extraordinary life.”
Galanty, Stewart elected as Rehoboth Beach commissioners
Three-year terms to start Sept. 19
By ABIGAIL HATTING
Chris Galanty and Susan Stewart were elected to the city of Rehoboth Beach’s Board of Commissioners on August 9.
A total of 1,111 voters cast their ballots on Saturday — 637 in-person and 474 absentees. Each voter could vote for up to two candidates. There were 1,691 voters registered for the 2025 election.
The official tally count was:
Chris Galanty: 806
Jeffrey Goode: 314
Susan Stewart: 849
The two will be sworn in at the Sept. 19 commissioners meeting.
Chris Galanty is an urban planner working in the environmental sector and has worked on the Rehoboth Beach Streets and Transportation Committee.
“I’m incredibly honored and humbled by the support
from our community. This win isn’t just about me — it’s about a shared commitment to Rehoboth’s future. I’m energized, ready to get to work, and deeply grateful for the opportunity to serve,” Galanty wrote in a statement to the Washington Blade.
Susan Stewart is a lawyer and financial adviser as the senior vice president of The Stewart Group, RBC Wealth Management. She also
serves on the Rehoboth Beach Planning Commission as well as the Mixed-Use and Stormwater Utility Task Forces.
“I’m deeply grateful for the overwhelming support from our city’s voters. I believe this result reflects a clear endorsement of honesty, integrity, and a commitment to transparent, accountable leadership. I look forward to working hard to restore trust in our city government and to serve our community with the respect and responsibility it deserves,” Stewart wrote to the Blade.
The board is the governing body of the city, responsible for creating the budget, appointing city officials and enacting ordinances. Seven commissioners, including the mayor, serve at a time for three-year terms, with no term limits. Two current commissioners, Edward Chrzanowski and Francis “Bunky” Markert Jr. did not seek re-election, leaving the two open spots.
ABIGAIL HATTING
From left, Alston Foundation Operations Manager BELINDA PEARSON and Alston Foundation Executive Director CESAR TOLEDO (Blade photo by Michael Key)
SUSAN STEWART and CHRIS GALANTY won the Rehoboth Beach Commissioners election on Saturday. (Photos courtesy of the candidates)
State lawmakers launch attacks on LGBTQ adults
Legislators tee up restrictions on marriage, trans healthcare
By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com
The proliferation of anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by state legislatures across the country, which ticked up dramatically in 2021 and has since increased year-overyear, looks different in 2025.
Efforts that once focused on school sports and pediatric gender care have now broadened, as many advocates warned they would, to target adult life and the legal scaffolding of hard-won freedoms like same-sex marriage.
LGBTQ issues remain fraught political battlegrounds, but the fight has shifted to driver’s licenses, hospital policies, state-worker speech rules, and even marriage licenses — exposing these communities to greater risk of civil-rights violations.
This shift comes at a moment when legal avenues for challenging discrimination by state governments or the Trump-Vance administration have narrowed significantly, even as rhetorical and political attacks intensify.
By the numbers, this year is shaping up to be the worst in recent memory. The ACLU tracked 520 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2023, 533 in 2024, and by February the organization had already logged 339, an accelerated pace for 2025.
Predictably, these legislative efforts are clustered in conservative places like Texas, where state lawmakers teed up 32 anti-trans bills on the first day of pre-filing for 2025, as GLAAD noted
At the same time, however, the group reports that the year kicked off with similar activity in far bluer statehouses located in places like Massachusetts, Colorado, and New York.
The new crop of bills share some distinguishing features. For instance, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, and Illinois are considering (or have enacted, in Alabama’s case) proposals to adopt restrictive definitions of sex and gender.
Not only does the establishment of a legal definition for gender based on a fixed binary that must be determined by one’s sex at birth exclude the recognition of people who are trans or have other gender diverse identities, but it also carries significant downstream impacts.
President Donald Trump has already demonstrated how this can work. Issued on the first day of his second term, his Executive Order 14168 recast “sex” across all federal policy as a fixed category that is limited to “male” or “female,” defined at “conception,” and unchangeable.
Pursuant to the order, the administration mandated that agencies replace all mention of “gender” with “sex,” strip gender self-identification options from passports, and halt funding for anything deemed “gender ideology,” including gender- affirming care.
With respect to restrictions on gender markers on passports and official documents, the consequences for Americans who are not cisgender are far-reaching, touching areas of their lives from housing to employment and travel.
Georgia, meanwhile, previewed how conservative lawmakers can restrict guideline-directed best practices medical interventions for not just transgender youth, but adults as well, with a bill introduced this year that would bar coverage by state employees’ health benefits plans.
Georgia has also enacted a law prohibiting all gender-affirming care (hormones, surgeries, and even personal funding of such care) for incarcerated individuals in state prisons, which came after Trump’s executive order requiring the Bureau of Prisons to halt funding for these treatments and move trans women inmates into men’s facilities.
Broadened healthcare restrictions did not necessarily start this year, however. Florida passed a law in 2023, for example, that requires trans adults to receive in-person, state-approved informed consent for gender-affirming care, while banning nurse practitioners and telehealth delivery of such treatments, thereby limiting access for patients.
Following years of conservative activism focused on censoring pro-LGBTQ speech from schools — banning books and other materials with gay or trans characters or themes; restricting classroom instruction on matters of sexual orientation and gender identity — some states have taken a new tack in 2025: protecting anti-LGBTQ speech.
Once again, the scope of these efforts now extends beyond educational institutions and their focus is broadened from youth to youth and adults.
Montana’s Free to Speak Act, enacted in May, protects students and public employees from being disciplined for refusing to use a person’s preferred name or pronouns, establishing a private right of action allowing affected individuals to sue for injunctive relief, monetary damages, and attorney fees.
Lawmakers in Florida are going even further with a proposal that would bar public employers from requiring the use of trans individuals’ preferred pronouns, remove “nonbinary” as an option on state job applications, and make LGBTQ+ cultural competence training optional rather than mandatory.
On Monday, news outlets around the world reported on the return of Kim Davis. The thrice divorced former Kentucky county clerk has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to hear her case, which seeks to overturn the High Court’s precedent setting ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges that established marriage equality as the law of the land in 2015.
Some legal experts believe the gambit is a long shot. Others are less confident, pointing to the establishment of a 6-3 conservative supermajority in October 2020 and Justice Clarence Thomas’s concurring statement in the 2022 decision overturning abortion rights, where he expressed interest in revisiting the marriage decision.
In what may be a harbinger of another battle over same-sex marriage, or a sign that the matter was never settled in the first place, five states this year have considered non-binding resolutions asking the justices to overturn Obergefell: South Dakota, North Dakota, Idaho, Michigan, and Montana.
Other measures have been more concrete. In Tennessee and several other states, lawmakers introduced “covenant marriage” bills defining marriage as a union between “one male and one female” with heightened divorce restrictions — a move that would effectively exclude same-sex couples from that marital track. While none have yet been passed or enacted, they illustrate how legislatures can reshape marriage law without directly challenging Obergefell.
Such bills raise a potential clash with the Respect for Marriage Act, legislation passed during the Biden-Harris administration that requires states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere but does not require them to issue licenses.
Lawmakers in Georgia enacted a ban on all gender-affirming care for incarcerated individuals. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Lavers)
Supreme Court asked to overturn marriage ruling
A petition filed last month by former Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis asks the U.S. Supreme Court to revisit its landmark Obergefell v. Hodges, which established marriage equality as the law of the land in 2015.
Shortly after the decision, Davis was jailed for six days for refusing a marriage license to a gay couple on religious grounds. Her petition for writ of certiorari now asks the High Court to overturn a $100,000 jury verdict for emotional damages along with $260,000 for attorneys fees.
While she is considered one of the only Americans with legal standing to challenge the precedent, Davis’s appeal is considered a long shot by most legal experts, and it comes a few months after a federal appeals court panel decided she could not sue on First Amendment protections because “she is being held liable for state action.”
Legal protections for same-sex marriage are also codified into federal law with the Respect for Marriage Act, passed on a bipartisan basis under the Biden-Harris administration, which presents an additional hurdle for litigants seeking to overturn or narrow Obergefell.
However, the RFMA does not require states to issue
marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples if the 2015 ruling was revoked, only that they recognize valid samesex (and interracial) marriages performed in other states.
“Not a single judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals showed any interest in Davis’s rehearing petition, and we
are confident the Supreme Court will likewise agree that Davis’s arguments do not merit further attention,” William Powell, attorney for the Kentucky couple that sued Davis for damages, told ABC News in a statement.
At the same time, Lambda Legal reports that at least nine states have introduced legislation to block new marriage licenses for LGBTQ people or passed resolutions urging the Supreme Court to reverse Obergefell so far in 2025.
And in June, the Southern Baptist Convention voted to make a top priority of overturning “laws and court rulings, including Obergefell v. Hodges, that defy God’s design for marriage and family.”
In their petition, Davis’s attorneys wrote that “If there ever was a case of exceptional importance, the first individual in the Republic’s history who was jailed for following her religious convictions regarding the historic definition of marriage, this should be it.”
She is represented by the Liberty Counsel, a Christian impact litigation organization that has been designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an anti-LGBTQ hate group.
CHRISTOPHER KANE
LGBTQ people erased from State Dept. 2024 human rights report
Advocacy groups on Tuesday sharply criticized the removal LGBTQ-specific references from the State Department’s 2024 human rights report.
The report, which the State Department released on Tuesday, does not reference Uganda’s Anti-Homosexuality Law and the impact it has had on the country’s LGBTQ community since President Yoweri Museveni signed it in 2023. The report, however, does note Ugandan government officials “reportedly committed acts of sexual violence.”
“NGOs reported police medical staff subjected at least 15 persons to forced anal examinations following their arrests,” it reads. “Opposition protesters stated security forces used or threatened to use forced anal examinations during interrogations.”
Uganda is among the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized. Authorities in the African country often use socalled anal tests to determine whether someone has engaged in homosexuality.
The report does not mention that Brazil has the highest number of reported murders of transgender people in the world. It does, however, note the President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2024 “undermined democratic debate by restricting access to online content deemed to ‘undermine democracy,’ disproportionately suppressing the speech of supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro as well as journalists and elected politicians, often in secret proceedings that lacked due process guarantees.”
The report says there “were no credible reports of significant human rights abuses” in Hungary in 2024, even though Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government continued its anti-LGBTQ rights crackdown. The report does note Russian authorities last year “invoked a law prohibiting the distribution of ‘propaganda on nontraditional sexual relations’ to children.”
The State Department’s 2023 human rights report spe-
cifically notes a Russian law “prohibited gender transition procedures and gender-affirming care … and authorities used laws prohibiting the promotion of ‘non-traditional sexual relations’ to justify the arbitrary arrest of LGBTQI+ persons.” The 2023 report also cites reports that “state actors committed violence against LGBTQI+ individuals based on their sexual orientation or gender identity, particularly in Chechnya” and “government agents attacked, harassed, and threatened LGBTQI+ activists.”
“There were instances of non-state actor violence targeting LGBTQI+ persons and of police often failing to respond adequately to such incidents,” it adds.
The 2024 report does not mention Thai lawmakers last year approved a bill that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples. Gays and lesbians began to legally marry in the country in January.
Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights under the Biden-Harris administration who co-founded the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, during a conference call with reporters on Tuesday said she and her colleagues “expected (the report) to be bad.”
“When we saw what the administration released, the truth is we were shocked and horrified,” said Stern.
Stern added the Trump-Vance administration “has erased or watered-down entire categories of abuse against people of African descent, indigenous people, Roma people, members of other marginalized racial and ethnic communities, workers, women and girls, and LGBTQI+ people.”
“It is deliberate erasure,” said Stern.
The Council for Global Equality in a statement condemned “the drastic restructuring and glaring omission of violence and abuse targeting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI+) persons in the U.S.”
“We denounce the Trump administration’s efforts to
politicize the State Department’s annual human rights reports by stripping longstanding references to human rights abuses targeting LGBTQI+ and other marginalized groups,” said Mark Bromley, the group’s co-chair.
Gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus, echoed Bromley and Stern.
“Omitting the persecution of LGBTQI+ people from the human rights reports doesn’t erase the abuse, violence, and criminalization our community is facing around the world — it condones it,” said Takano in a statement.
“Erasing our community from these reports makes it that much harder for human rights advocates, the press, and the American people to be aware of the abuses LGBTQI+ people are facing worldwide,” he added.
Congress requires the State Department to release a human rights report each year. Foggy Bottom usually releases it in the spring.
Politico in March reported the Trump-Vance administration planned to cut “sections about the rights of women, the disabled, the LGBTQ+ community, and more” from the human rights report. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce, who President Donald Trump has nominated to become deputy representative at the U.N., on Tuesday during her last press briefing defended the report and the delay in releasing it.
“We weren’t going to release something compiled and written by the previous administration,” said Bruce. “It needed to change based on the point of view and the vision of the Trump administration, and so those changes were made.”
“It certainly promotes, as does our work, a respect for human rights around the globe,” added the former Fox News contributor who has described herself as a “ gay woman.”
MICHAEL K. LAVERS
KIM DAVIS is back and trying to overturn marriage equality. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Montreal Pride reverses ban on Jewish groups
Organizers of Montreal’s Pride parade have reversed their decision to ban Jewish groups from participating in the annual event.
The Montreal Gazette reported Fierté Montréal on July 30 informed Ga’ava, a group that is affiliated with the Toronto-based Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs, it could not march in the Aug. 10 parade.
Ga’ava in a statement said it and the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs “were deeply shocked to learn today from Montreal Pride that LGBTQ+ Jews and their allies will be excluded from the 2025 Pride Parade.” Fierté Montréal earlier in the day in its own statement condemned “the ongoing genocide in Gaza, expresses solidarity with the Palestinian people, and calls for the lives of 2SLGBTQIA+ individuals in Palestine, and everywhere in the world — to be respected and protected.”
“Fierté Montréal’s position on violence of any kind inflicted upon marginalized populations or communities — especially 2SLGBTQIA+ communities — has always been clear: we denounce all forms of violence, we amplify the voices of queer communities who, on our stages and in our spaces, express their support for oppressed peoples, particularly the Palestinian people, and their opposition to genocide,” said Fierté Montréal. “The work of Fierté Montréal is rooted in a long-standing movement to fight oppression, and we acknowledge the pain expressed by queer communities in Montréal since the beginning of the conflict in Gaza.”
“Accordingly, and in line with our zero-tolerance policy for hate speech and incitement to violence, and to ensure that the Fierté Montréal Festival remains a safe and celebratory space for everyone, the board of directors of Fierté Montréal has made the decision to deny par-
ticipation in the Pride Parade to organizations spreading hateful discourse,” it added. “This measure is taken in the context of a complex geopolitical situation and stems from our commitment to preserving the emotional and physical safety of our communities.”
Five Canadian MPs are among those who sharply criticized Fierté Montréal’s decision.
Bernard Truong, the group’s former board chair, resigned on Monday. The Montreal Gazette on Tuesday spoke with his successor, Marlot Marleau, about the decision to reinvite Ga’ava and the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs to participate in the parade.
“We realized the decision was seen as excluding the entire Jewish community. That was never the intent,” Marleau told the Montreal Gazette. “We’re sorry for making them feel unwelcome.”
“LGBTQ+ Jews are happy that Montreal Pride walked back its politically motivated decision to oust the Jewish community from the Pride Parade,” said Ga’ava President Carlos A. Godoy on Tuesday in a statement he sent to the Washington Blade. “Either you’re inclusive or you’re not. LGBTQ+ Jews have to bring their full authentic selves to the parade — we can’t ask Jews to separate their identities and attachments. LGBTQ+ Jews belong in Pride parades.”
MICHAEL K. LAVERS
Rwandan surrogacy law excludes same-sex couples
Same-sex couples in Rwanda seeking to become parents via surrogate or in vitro fertilization have been excluded under a new bill that MPs passed.
The Healthcare Services Bill that passed on Aug. 4 would also allow access to contraceptives for 15-yearolds to tackle rising teenage pregnancy. The legal age was previously 18.
The move to bar same-sex couples from using a surrogate or in vitro fertilization to become parents derives from amendments to the bill’s assisted reproductive technologies provisions that clarify who qualifies for the services.
The Parliamentary Committee on Social Affairs, chaired by Veneranda Uwamariya, which established the original bill failed to clearly state who should access ART services, informed the amendments.
The passed law, which President Paul Kagame must sign before enforcement, defines ART, including surrogacy, as a third-party reproductive arrangement where a surrogate mother carries and delivers a child for another person or couple with problems of fertility and conception.
“After discussions and consultations with government representatives, committee members agreed that ART services should be available not only to married couples but also to other individuals who are unable to conceive naturally, provided that a medical doctor confirms the condition,” Uwamariya stated.
It noted that while the original bill said ART services were for couples with difficulties in conceiving, it similarly contradicted itself in another provision, limiting the services to healthcare service users who are unable to conceive naturally.
The bill’s Article 69 also restricted access to ART services to couples with infertility or individuals preserving their fertility, while Article 73 restricted gamete or em-
bryo donations to a maximum of three couples.
The law requires the government to set up an oversight committee appointed by the Health Ministry to monitor the offering of ART services to ensure full compliance with ethical standards — protecting patients, safeguarding the rights of surrogates, and building trust in the advanced medical reproductive technologies. The age limit for surrogates is between 21 and 40 years.
Rwandan law does not criminalize homosexuality.
The government considers same-sex relationships as a “private matter,” and it has ratified international laws that protect LGBTQ rights amid homophobic discrimination and stigma from the largely conservative population.
Despite the government’s protection of queer rights, the Rwandan constitution only recognizes marriage between persons of opposite sex. The new surrogacy measures lock out same-sex couples from parenthood.
During the parliamentary committee discussions with the Health Minister Yvan Butera, some legislators, such as Gloriose Mukamwiza, demanded access to surrogacy services permitted to any individual wanting children, regardless of their infertility, due to societal factors like personal choice.
“In general, regarding assisted reproductive technology, what we are saying is that anyone who has a biological issue that does not allow them to conceive naturally is going to be allowed to benefit from services offered,” Butera insisted in a response.
He further noted infertility is not limited to natural conditions for individuals to access ART services, but it also applies to those affected by medical treatments like chemotherapy, which affects fertility in both men and women.
Butera’s stand limiting surrogacy only to individu-
als with biological infertility and not by choice, which would have also benefited same-sex couples, is based on the bill’s provisions that prohibit commercializing surrogacy and other ART services in the country. This exclusion has, however, sparked debate among some Rwandans, particularly on social media, concerning fairness, discrimination, and the need for the law to reflect changing family structures and parenting dynamics in the current world.
The provisions were informed by concerns from some parliamentarians and healthcare rights bodies who demanded loopholes that would turn surrogacy services into a gateway for mere business practices and exploitation of poor young women, as in some developed countries, be sealed in the bill.
A September 2020 Superior Court ruling in favor of a couple who, for several months, pursued legal approval to have a child via surrogate after their attempts to have children naturally and through in vitro fertilization failed prompted Rwandan MPs to enact its first surrogacy law.
The ruling had overturned a lower court’s decision that blocked the couple from getting a child from a willing surrogate mother after doctors demanded legal approval before proceeding with medical procedures. The lower court, while blocking the procedure, held the law only recognized procreation between a man and a woman or with assistance, but not between two families as requested by the petitioners.
By enacting the surrogacy law that blocks same-sex couples from parenthood, Rwanda joins two neighboring countries, Kenya and Uganda, which have a similar measure dubbed the “Assisted Reproductive Technology Bill” but whose legislation is still pending before their respective parliamentary health committees for stakeholder input.
SAM KISIKA
Members of Ga’ava and the Center for Israel and Jewish Affairs march in the 2024 Montreal Pride parade. Fierté Montréal has reversed its ban on Jewish groups marching in this year’s parade. (Photo courtesy of Carlos A. Godoy/Ga’ava)
floor
flooring
WILL FRIES
is a Maryland communications strategist with experience in multiple major presidential campaigns.
Buttigieg’s answer on trans sports is disappointing, revealing
Civil rights are not a local issue
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, once hailed as the future of Democratic politics, recently addressed the question of whether transgender youth should be allowed to participate in school sports. His response: “I think these decisions should be in the hands of sports leagues and school boards and not politicians, least of all politicians in Washington, trying to use this as a political pawn.”
There is a long tradition in American public life of politicians who, when asked to lead, suggest that someone else should go first. Buttigieg’s comment may sound temperate, even principled in its restraint, but it is in fact a familiar form of evasion. And it carries echoes of a history he would do well to remember.
When southern states resisted school desegregation in the 1950s and ‘60s, they often did so under the banner of local control. Letting the federal government enforce Brown v. Board of Education, they argued, was federal overreach. Local school boards should decide when, and if, to integrate. When cities introduced busing plans to accelerate racial integration, the resistance came wrapped in the same language. This is best handled locally. Translation: let us delay. Let us dilute. Let us decide whether equality is convenient.
The language was polite. The result was not.
We are hearing that language again. This time it is being applied to trans youth, whose rights to openly participate in public life, including in school sports, are under coordinated attack in state legislatures, school districts, and national media. And now, from the federal level, comes the same refrain: let local institutions sort it out.
This means the same thing now as it did in the ‘50s, ‘60s, and ‘70s; we’re fine with discrimination as long as you manage to keep it quiet.
What is so striking is not that Buttigieg avoids the rhetoric of the far right. It is that he also avoids taking any position at all. He does not defend trans kids’ right to participate. He does not say whether they should be included. Instead, he offers a principle of delegation, presented as democratic humility. One almost expects him to quote the school board bylaws.
This is not a call for balance. It is a refusal to take a side. And in today’s environment, that refusal has consequences. In dozens of states, local school boards and legislatures are already making their decision: to exclude. They are banning trans students from participating in sports, from using bathrooms, from receiving gender-affirming care. They are not waiting for local consensus. They are moving quickly and unapologetically. And they are doing so under the cover of the very principle Buttigieg has now endorsed.
Buttigieg says, “We should be empowering communities and organizations and schools to make the right decisions.” But he leaves out a crucial point: communities are more likely to ‘make the right decisions’ when national leaders speak with moral clarity and conviction.
Against that backdrop, Buttigieg’s answer is not just disappointing. It is revealing.
Here is one of the most visible LGBTQ public officials in the country. A man who made history. A man who understands what it means to have his identity treated as a political debate. And yet, when asked whether trans youth should be affirmed or excluded, he defaults to process. He speaks not of rights, but of jurisdiction. Not of justice, but of who gets to decide.
Has he considered how a trans child might hear that? What it feels like to watch the country debate your right to exist, only to hear that even national LGBTQ leaders see your basic right to participate in community as a ‘local matter’? And how painful it must be to be told, as one of the most isolated and vulnerable members of the community, that you’re on your own by a national political leader.
Buttigieg did mention compassion. That is a fine word, as far as words go. But compassion without clarity is sentiment. And sentiment has never secured civil rights.
There is a real cost to pretending these fights are best left to school boards and athletic committees. That cost is paid by the kids who are excluded, erased, or told to wait while the adults argue. For trans youth already experiencing the compounded cruelties of isolation, discrimination, and a lack of access to resources and support, the result can be despair. And sometimes, that cost is deadly.
If Buttigieg truly believes school boards are the proper venue for resolving questions of dignity and inclusion, then perhaps he should run for one. Let him hold office hours at the local library. Let him pledge to consider all sides. Let him go on record about how children should be treated by adults.
But let us not mistake that for leadership. Because civil rights are not a local issue. They never have been. They are not preferences to be weighed or compromises to be managed. They are realities to secure. And when those rights are under attack, the role of the federal government is not to sit it out.
American history already has volumes about what happens when national figures say this is not our fight. Let’s not add another chapter.
is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
Sen. Booker vs. Sen. Cortez Masto on Senate floor
Moderate voters will help Democrats win if we speak to them
Sen. Corey Booker (D-N.J.) is a progressive wanting to run for president in 2028. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) is a moderate who wants to win back Congress in 2026. He accused her of being complicit with Republicans for sponsoring policing bills. The Democrat from Nevada said she “refused to be lectured about how to challenge President Trump, and she argues that her party needs to do more to gain voters’ trust.”
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I agree with the senator from Nevada. It is time Democrats recognized in 2025 and 2026 that it will all be about how candidates relate to their individual constituencies, not what those who are vying to be the Democratic candidate in 2028 say. Cortez Masto is right when she says it is the swing states, and swing districts, that will make the difference to winning or losing Congress. If we win Congress, it is just the beginning of what will be a long and arduous process to turn around what the felon in the White House is doing to the country and the world.
We are faced with the people who won the last election actually wanting to destroy our democracy. Booker speaking on the Senate floor for 25 hours, and setting a record for a standing filibuster, is impressive but won’t change anything. I am sure most people don’t remember anything he said. Things will only change if people feel that by electing a Democrat in their state, in their district, to their local commission, and school board, that they will have a better life. Cortez Masto is right; it is about food prices, public safety, children’s education, gas prices, their health insurance, and rent. They are desperate to know how their lives can get better. Each local candidate will need to explain why what their opponent has espoused, and voted for, hurts each and every voter and their family.
The Democratic National Committee can spend money on social media saying “Trump and his acolytes lied to you. He promised lower prices and now your food costs more and your rent is going up. He promised to end wars, and none are ended.” Then it is up to the local candidate to go door-to-door and tell people specifically what they will propose, and vote for, if elected. What voters want to hear may vary in each district and in each election. Voters will judge candidates on how much they believe what they say.
With regard to the legislation that Booker called Cortez Masto out on, she said, “I don’t need lectures from anyone on how to push back and fight this administration. I’ve been doing it since I got to the Senate, because I won my Senate race in 2016 and Donald Trump won at the same time. I’m also from a swing state; I’ve still got to get stuff done on behalf of my state.” She added, “Why would you throw out good legislation that’s going to benefit everyone across the country? That doesn’t make sense. We still have to have a functioning government. That’s part of gaining the trust of Americans again, so they understand there are people that are working on their behalf. But most importantly, we have to win. Winning means we’ve got to win these swing states, and focus on those swing voters and what matters to them and talk to them and that we’re addressing the issues they care about.”
I agree with Cortez Masto’s premise; Democrats won’t take back the majority if we don’t win in the swing states and districts. To do that there needs to be a focus on common sense that people will understand. There is a PAC called The Moderate Democrats PAC, or “ModSquad.” They will support Roy Cooper in North Carolina for Senate and also Rep. Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. There are swing districts in Texas, Michigan, and Minnesota, they are looking at as well.
What we don’t need is Democrats who want to run in 2028 trying to outdo each other and taking positions that make the national news but end up hurting local candidates in 2025 and 2026, because they have to answer for them.
Despite Mamdani’s primary win, and likely win in the general election for mayor of New York City, the overwhelming electorate across the nation is moderate. Despite what the felon in the White House and his sycophants say, there was no overwhelming mandate for him. It was a very close election. Democrats don’t need that many voters to change their minds, and others to just come out and vote. They are the swing voters that Cortez Masto is talking about who will help us to win — if we speak to them.
From synagogue to Stonewall: LGBTQ Jewish stories in D.C.
Capital Jewish Museum exhibit showcases resiliency of local LGBTQ Jews
By JOE REBERKENNY | jreberkenny@washblade.com
From clandestine Shabbat dinners with chosen family in Dupont Circle in the 1950s to proudly marching in the world’s biggest Pride celebration in 2025 under the Bet Mishpachah banner, LGBTQ Jews are deeply intertwined in the queer history of Washington. Despite their consistent presence in the fight for equality, LGBTQ Jews have not, historically speaking, received their flowers.
One museum in Judiciary Square is trying to change that by highlighting the historic contributions LGBTQ Jews have made to D.C. The Capital Jewish Museum officially opened its doors to its “LGBTQ Jews in the Federal City” exhibit in May and has been educating the community — and history fans — since.
The Washington Blade sat down with the two major forces behind bringing the exhibit to life at the Capital Jewish Museum to discuss some often-neglected parts of D.C.’s queer history.
The exhibit begins with a timeline of important moments in both Judaism, like the establishment of the six genders mentioned in ancient rabbinical writings, and in America’s LGBTQ history, like the Stonewall Riots. As you walk further in, the timeline begins to highlight important events for LGBTQ Jews in Washington, spanning from the 1800s to the current day.
When asked why produce an exhibit on LGBTQ Jews, Sarah Leavitt, the director of Curatorial Affairs, was quick with an answer and a smile. Aside from teaching the detailed ways LGBTQ Jewish icons—like Frank Kameny, for example, who led the fight for gay and lesbian people to work openly in the federal government—alongside other spectacular histories, it was clear it was also meant to inspire.
“‘Why not?’” Leavitt said. “This is an important story to tell. We wanted to tell it, so that’s what we did… It encourages people to do the work of the next stage, as whatever that is.”
both representing queer resilience in Washington.
Jocelyn Kaplan was one of those people who shared their special objects and stories with Edelman and Leavitt. She gave the museum stacks of old “Gay Blade” prints from when they were a single sheet of paper.
“She thought she was the only one who had these feelings,” Edelman explained. “One night she was at a bar or a restaurant, and saw copies of the Blade, and she picked one up, and discovered community for the first time. And so this very ordinary piece of paper may have saved her life. And the power that this publication had in helping people find community before the internet is meaningful.”
Leavitt’s favorite piece, the meeting minutes, was made more special after a member of Bet Mishpachah found herself in the notes.
Jonathan Edelman, collections curator at the Capital Jewish Museum, explained that for him, the exhibit was more than showcasing the revolutionary work of LGBTQ Jews in D.C.—it was also about making the museum’s archives more accurately reflect all colors of the Jewish rainbow.
“My number one responsibility… is to help enhance our archives, so that it’s a collection that more accurately reflects the Jewish community we claim to represent,” Edelman said. “This exhibit helped us start to fill one gap… But we have a lot more work to do.”
That work began at kitchen tables across the DMV — and took off from there.
“I sat at a lot of kitchen tables and listened to people tell their stories,” he said. “When we started collecting, I really got the sense, especially from LGBTQ Jewish elders, that people were just waiting for someone to ask about their story… a button from a protest in 1979 that meant so much to them… was also empowering.”
In addition to the multitude of political buttons that announce “LOUD PUSHY JEW DYKE” and the piece of the AIDS memorial quilt hung on the wall with a square highlighting some of the Jewish people who died alongside a sewn synagogue, there is an astonishing number of artifacts in the exhibit. The two creators of the exhibit shared their favorite artifacts for all to see. Edelman’s favorite is one of the earliest editions of the Washington Blade (known as the Gay Blade back in 1969). Leavitt’s is a copy of meeting minutes from Bet Mishpachah, Washington’s LGBTQ Jewish congregation—
“Several of the people at the meeting were listed without their last name because it was the early ’90s,” Leavitt said. “They were worried that somehow their boss was gonna get a copy of these meeting minutes from their synagogue… she remembered that fear. … That was a moment from 35 years ago that kind of stabbed her in the heart again.”
The exhibit is eye-opening, to say the least. Touching on cultural icons of D.C. history like Esther Goldberg, a well-known Jewish drag queen— complete with a disco ball and gown—to signs of progress toward a more inclusive space for LGBTQ Jews, like the Hebrew workbook on display without gender-specific pronouns for non-binary Hebrew learners.
While sitting on the couch in the middle of the exhibit, next to rotary phones that have LGBTQ Jewish elders sharing their stories with the spin of the wheel, Leavitt admitted that the exhibit wouldn’t do justice to LGBTQ history if it were a perfect balance of struggle and success. One struggle some Jewish people had internally wrestled with was the inclusion—or rather lack of inclusion—of the history of gay men in the Holocaust. Some wanted these museums and memorials to honor only the Jewish people who suffered the most during the time. Others wanted gay men who died alongside Jewish people to be memorialized and recognized.
“It’s not always a pretty story, but it can be one,” Leavitt said about the twisting of LGBTQ and Jewish histories. “I think grief weaves its way through all of our stories… But we can’t do a show like this without talking about trauma.”
On the opposite side, there are remarkable accounts across the exhibit floor that show the relationship between the LGBTQ community and the Jewish community supporting each other. Bet Mishpachah, for example, has been marching in D.C.’s Pride celebrations since the 1970s.
“Some felt that this was holy work—their activism,” she added.
When asked what they hoped visitors to the museum would take away from the exhibit, they gave different answers, but both put LGBTQ Jews at the center.
“I hope queer Jewish elders feel seen, like their story is finally being told,” he said. “I hope younger queer people learn the history of this movement… and then I hope our non-queer visitors understand that queer history is Jewish history.”
“I hope it shows we can do it, and that the community can trust us with their stories,” she finished. “Hopefully this is just the beginning.”
The LGBTQ Jews in the Federal City exhibit. (Photo courtesy of the Capital Jewish Museum)
CALENDAR
| By TINASHE CHINGARANDE
Friday, August 15
“Center Aging Friday Tea Time” will be at 2 p.m. in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s new location at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email adam@thedccenter.org.
Trans and Genderqueer Game Night will be at 6 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is a relaxing, laid-back evening of games and fun. All are welcome. Feel free to bring your own games to share. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.
GoGayDC will host “LGBTQ+ Social in the City” at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea-sharing, and community building. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
Saturday, August 16
GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 12 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ+ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
LGBTQ People of Color Support Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This peer support group is an outlet for LGBTQ People of Color to come together and talk about anything affecting them in a space that strives to be safe and judgment free. There are all sorts of activities like watching movies, poetry events, storytelling, and just hanging out with others. For more information, visit thedccenter.org/poc or facebook.com/centerpoc.
Monday, August 18
“Center Aging Monday Coffee Klatch” will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ+ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email adam@thedccenter.org.
Tuesday, August 19
Bi+ Roundtable will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is an opportunity for people to gather in order to discuss issues related to bisexuality or as bi individuals in a private setting. Visit Facebook or Meetup for more information.
Wednesday, August 20
Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers.
Poly Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is an inclusive, welcoming, virtual safer space to talk about all things polyamorous. The rapturous, the confused, the pure YIKES, we want to hear them all. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.
Lit Lovers: Book Club for Seniors will be at 2 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. The book selection for August is “Four Squares” by Bobby Finger. If you do not have a copy of your own, we encourage you to reserve a copy with the District of Columbia Public Library. DCPL can transport available copies to your local library upon request. If you do not currently hold a library card, we encourage you to get one. RSVP for this event on the DC Center’s website.
Center Aging Women’s Social and Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This group is a place where older LGBTQ+ women can meet and socialize with one another. There will be discussion, activities, and a chance for you to share what you want future events to include. For more details, email adamheller@thedccenter.org.
OUT & ABOUT
Ricky’s pop-up bar kicks off Aug. 17
Starting on Sunday, Aug. 17 at 4 p.m., Diosa DC will transform into Ricky’s, an unapologetically inclusive pop-up bar takeover designed for the city’s vibrant queer, urban, femme, and in-between communities.
Ricky’s is not your average Sunday Funday. Think revolving event partners, dynamic DJs, curated talent, drink specials, and all the Instagrammable moments. Each week delivers a new twist — keeping it fresh, electric, and reflective of the diverse heartbeat of the District.
Whether you come for the beats, the vibes, or the bold cocktails, Ricky’s is your new Sunday ritual. Because in D.C., fun doesn’t wait for the weekend to end. Ricky’s makes its debut Sunday, Aug. 17 with infamous drag performer/activist Tara Hoot with Tara Hoot’s Play House.
For more details, follow @DiosaDC on Instagram.
Mayor’s office to discuss upcoming grant project
The D.C. Mayor’s Office for LGBTQ Affairs will host “Black LGBTQ+ History Preservation Committee Public Meeting” on Wednesday, Aug. 20 at 6 p.m.
The committee will meet to discuss updates on the grant project. Attendees will have the opportunity to ask questions and network with committee members.
More details are available on Eventbrite.
Thursday, August 21
The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.
Virtual Yoga with Sarah M. will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breathwork, and meditation. For more details, visit the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s website.
TARA HOOT performs on Sunday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
New bar Revolt to join D.C.’s thriving queer nightlife scene
Plans for high-energy, inclusive space in U Street corridor
By JOE REBERKENNY | jreberkenny@washblade.com
Just in time for Labor Day weekend, a new LGBTQ bar will open on the corner of U and 14th streets, adding to the growing number of LGBTQ bars in Washington.
For the past 10 years, it was the location of Cloak & Dagger, a popular straight bar and dance club. Now it will be Revolt.
Revolt (1359 U St. NW) announced on Instagram on Monday that there would be a special “preview weekend” of D.C.’s newest queer bar before its official opening, complete with local DJs and drink specials.
The Blade was given a special early-access tour of the space led by Jonathon Rube, the head of operations for the bar. While the owner of the space is straight, Rube — who is in charge of all aspects of the space — is gay.
Despite the space not being large, with a capacity of 125, Rube’s plans for the bar are. He shared that in addition to the queer bar he described as “Vegas style” and “over-the-top,” he also has plans to create a dessert shop on the first floor called Crazy Banana, and a quick-service “late night bites” window to grab snacks after a night of dancing on the floor above.
The first thing Rube touched on when showing the space was its prime location on the corner of 14th and U Street — which, in the past three years, has become extremely queer with the opening of Bunker, Crush, District Eagle, Spark Social, and now Revolt.
“It just feels right,” Rube said. “You have a wide variety of people from all walks of life coming through here. And with the history of 14th and U… you want a balance between creating a gay mecca but at the same time, inspired by what the history of the street is.”
This corner has a lot of history — particularly for Black Washingtonians, as it was a major shopping and cultural hub known as “Black Broadway” in the early 1900s. He explained that acknowledging the location’s history was one of his goals — and he plans to continue to do so by hosting hip-hop nights at the bar.
“We’ll be doing a hip-hop night… hip-hop meets strip club,” he explained. He made it clear that the space will not solely cater to one group but rather be formed from a diverse lineup of gender identities and sexualities performing — with talent being at its center. “Male, female, drag, non-binary… people that know what they’re doing. In a perfect world the catwalk stage will open in the front where they can come down the stripper pole.”
Revolt is not stopping with the hip-hop–themed night; the weekly lineup includes Latin Thursday nights and Sapphic Saturdays. These themes, Rube said, are an attempt to make U Street’s newest queer bar for everyone.
At the time of the interview, construction of the bar — with a catwalk above the dance floor — was actively
underway. Rube’s goal is to set it apart from other queer bars in the city through high-tech lighting and sound systems that he described as “Vegas meets D.C.”
“It’s like over the top with the lighting,” the former Las Vegas resident said. “That’s kind of where we go with this design… We just want to create that space where you have this amazing experience.”
While he did say he wants to stand out from other queer bars in the city, he also mentioned it’s not his intention to “step on anyone’s toes” by coming into the new gay stretch of U Street’s nightlife — but rather “complement” the spaces already there.
“What it really comes down to with corners like this, it reminds me of a West Hollywood little district area… You go over here because they have a good happy hour, and then get the next bar before their cover… just bouncing around. That’s what we want to be — that spot where people can bounce around.”
One way he is trying to do this is by making the drinks affordable with multiple happy hours and promotions, and having bartenders pre-batch their mixed shots.
“We’re not focused on mixology, even on our slower nights,” he said. “We’re very ‘vodka soda’ simple drinks… like Crush really focuses on the mixology
and has a really nice setup. Again, we’re trying to complement, not compete.”
Another consideration Revolt is taking is including specialty mocktails for sober members of the community. He also shared plans for a wristband for designated drivers to get discounted alcohol-free drinks.
Another concern Rube touched on was safety.
“The hard part is, how do we create that space where people do feel comfortable and it becomes that haven,” he said. “Everybody within the LGBTQ+ community should have a safe space in any of these bars.”
One way he is attempting to make Revolt a safe space for all is through his unique approach to security that may look different from some of the other bars on the street.
“I’m not using outside security. I’m looking for security hosts versus security guards… security within our community, or [people] trained to understand our community.”
Rube explained that he wants everyone’s experience with Revolt to be a positive one.
“From the moment they come in to the moment they leave, they are having a good time, feel welcome, they feel acknowledged… And when they leave they get value from every aspect.”
Carpenters building the catwalk and dance floor of Revolt on July 17th. (Washington Blade photo by Joe Reberkenny)
Weird, wonderful ‘Boys Go to Jupiter’ an instant cult classic
Part coming-of-age story, part sci-fi mystery, part musical
By JOHN PAUL KING
Once upon a time, there was a world in which strange, surreal, counter-cultural cartoon features found fame, profit, and a loyal fan following on the “midnight movie” circuit.
The same little art-house theaters where “weirdo” audiences congregated weekly to see “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” or showed up for screenings of the latest “filth” from John Waters also provided a venue for animated films that didn’t fit the family-friendly Disney mold; from the gritty X-rated titillations of “Fritz the Cat” to the psychedelic anti-fantasy of “Wizards” (both from independent filmmaker Ralph Bakshi) and the surreal sci-fi parable of the Euro-flavored “Fantastic Planet,” American audiences with a taste for entertainment that went against the grain of mainstream tastes were introduced to a whole new world of animation; boundaries were pushed, taboos were broken, and cartoons were definitely not just “kid stuff” anymore.
Nowadays, of course, all of those culture-shifting movies would have done a quick screening for award qualifications and then gone straight into the multiverse of streaming platforms to be enjoyed from the privacy and comfort of your own couch; and while it may be true that some of the communal joy of sharing your viewing experience with a crowd of similarly-minded strangers has been lost in the transition, it certainly provides more opportunities for modern-day animators to follow in the footsteps of those cult classic pioneers and find an audience for their own radical explorations of the art form – many of which would feel right at home on one of those old art-house screens.
Such a movie is “Boys Go to Jupiter,” which opened a theatrical release in New York on Aug. 8 and expands to other major cities this weekend. Written and directed by Julian Glander, it comes with established critical acclaim (thanks to its premiere at Tribeca and appearances at other high-profile film festivals) and a roster of voice talent that includes veteran comic and actress Janeane Garofalo, Tony-winner Cole Escola, and acclaimed writer/performer/artist Julio Torres; it also comes with a heavy dose of absurdity and cultural satire, as well as a visual style that perfectly captures the tech-driven world of gig workers, TikTok gurus, and corporate control in which it takes place.
Set in suburban Florida, it’s the story of Billy 5000 (voiced by Jack Corbett), a teen with a head for numbers and an absent mom. Once a star student, he’s now a high-school dropout, working as a courier for a food-delivery service called “Grubster” when he’s not “beatboxing” (or otherwise slacking off) with his friends. He’s got a plan, though; if he can exploit a glitch in the Grubster app and make a quick $5000, he can finally get his life “on track.” In the meantime, he’s stuck making deliveries to the assortment of misfits and crazy characters (voiced by Escola, Torres, and Joe Pera, among others) who populate his town.
Things start to get interesting, however, when a chance delivery to the Dolphin Groves Orange Juice headquarters leads to a surprise encounter with his high school crush, Rozebud (Miya Folick), whose mother is none other than Dr. Dolphin (Garofalo), the mysterious CEO of the company. It also leaves him carrying a stowaway in his backpack – an otherworldly creature named Donut, who may or may not be connected in some way to the secretive NASA “dolphin experiments” tied to the company’s origins, and who seemingly has powers Dr. Dolphin is desperate to control. Will Billy’s strangely endearing new companion prove to be the ace in the hole he needs to jump start his sure-to-be-promising rise to financial success? Will Dr. Dolphin be able to teach the rebellious Rozebud the skills she will need to take over her Orange Juice Empire when the time comes? And what about that other mysterious creature being sighted around the town – a strange, glowing, wormlike entity named Glarba (Tavi Gevinson)? Does she have anything to do with what’s happening here? Or is she just some foodie tourist from another dimension?
Part coming-of-age story, part sci-fi mystery, and part musical (there are 9 musical numbers included in its 90-minute runtime), it’s a tongue-in-cheek odyssey through familiar adolescent territory – the longing to escape the limitations of childhood existence, the awkward pangs of unrequited romance, the “stoner” humor, the teen’s-eye perspective on the absurdities of the adult world – that uses its wacky blend of genres to skewer not just the usual tropes and conventions of modern life, but an entire stacked capitalist system that encourages us to “crush it” in service of the laws of supply and demand. Billy’s world is defined – hilariously – by de-personalized interactions, influencer-backed financial strategies, and a cynical acceptance of bland mediocrity as the norm; everything is transactional, and any connection that bears no profit is a waste of time. Though he’s embraced it, he hates it, of course, and that’s exactly why we like him.
What makes “Boys Go to Jupiter” a delight, of course, is that it wraps its countercultural leanings in a genuinely relatable story of teenage discomfort, and then renders it – entirely through Blender, a free open-source 3D modeling program – into a gamer-friendly, gummi-looking cartoon landscape that sets just the right tone of ridiculous, vaguely transgressive whimsy. It also captures the particular landscape of suburban Florida, complete with lush, swampy greenery, goofy roadside attractions like a dinosaur-themed mini-golf course and an enormous weenie-shaped hot dog stand, and a sense of stifling suburban blandness that tastes just like adolescent frustration.
Glander, who makes his feature filmmaking debut with this movie, is a 3D artist and animator who has directed projects for Adult Swim, Disney, HBO Max, and Cartoon Network but is most widely known for creating a video game (“Art Sqool”), contributing 3-D illustrations for the New Yorker and New York Times, and a memorable 2022 appearance on “Jeopardy.” He says of his process, “I love animation, to the point of obsession. But in writing and developing this movie, I was thinking more about live-action. There’s a certain genre, or maybe it’s more of a mood than a genre, of films about suburban isolation and ennui, often with a surreal edge.”
That description sums up the delightful flavor of “Boys Go to Jupiter” to a tee: goofy, trippy to look at, full of absurd touches that make us laugh with their silliness even while they touch us to the core and occasionally shock us with their accuracy, it has all the hallmarks of an old-school animated cult classic.
Now if only they would schedule some midnight screenings.
The surreal sight of the world’s largest hot dog in ‘Boys Go to Jupiter.’ (Photo courtesy Cartuna Irony Point)
New book says good manners needed now more than ever
Avoid these five taboo topics when engaging in small talk
By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER
So. Many. Forks.
You’re glad you’re not doing the dishes at the end of this dinner – but in the meantime, what’s protocol? If this event wasn’t a make-or-break, filled-with-repercussions kind of deal for you, you wouldn’t care; you’d use one fork, one spoon, and enjoy your meal, thank you. So please pass the salt and the new book “Just Good Manners” by William Hanson.
Dining at a restaurant not long ago, Hanson noticed a glaring difference between how his fellow Brits order a meal, and how Americans do it. We might share a language, he says, and we’re a lot alike but we’re also different in many ways. Manners are one of them.
It may seem that formal manners are archaic, even quaint, but Hanson says that they’re needed now more than ever. Manners help smooth social transactions. They leave room for grace in many situations, and they help put people at ease.
“Contemporary etiquette,” he says, “is rooted in six key principles.”
Humility is what ensures that everyone at your meeting or dinner is comfortable, not just you. Hospitality welcomes everyone to the table. Knowing one’s rank shows respect. Says Hanson, “politeness takes patience” and humor, as manners evolve. And although it sounds counter-intuitive, manners are somewhat based on passive-aggressiveness, which helps you be direct, but not too much.
Here, you’ll learn how to deal with introductions in different situations and what to do with a pronoun faux pas. You’ll see that merely greeting someone can be fraught with danger, so be sure you know who’s who before you enter a room. Learn to avoid five “taboo” topics when engaging in small talk. If you’re interrupted, know how to kindly gain control of a conversation again. Find out how the use of slang tells a listener who you really are. Know how to be a good guest, and the kind of host people appreciate. And yes, you’ll learn about those many, many forks.
You do not live in a bubble. You don’t work in one, either, and smoothing ruffled feathers is needed more than ever in today’s world so maybe it’s time to learn how to do that from a very unruffled source. With “Just Good Manners,” it could even set you apart. Indeed, author William Hanson makes a case for politeness-as-diplomacy here, in a book that’s very Brit-centric but that includes anecdotes about disastrous situations in other countries. Tales like those are fun to read, in a Schadenfreude way, but they also illustrate why it’s essential to understand other cultures in business settings as well as in many casual events. If that sounds daunting, rest assured that Hanson uses his own advice, putting readers at ease with humor and charm and by taking the scariness out of manners by making them an easy, maybe even enjoyable, challenge.
You won’t feel scolded when you read “Just Good Manners,” but you will learn enough to be someone people want around. It’ll give you confidence. Before your next big event, it’ll give you something to chew on.
‘Just
Good Manners’
By William Hanson
c.2025, Gallery Books | $28.99 | 272 pages
Battle of the Bachelors & Bachelorettes
CAMP Rehoboth fundraiser held at Aqua Grill (Washington Blade photos by Daniel
The “Battle of the Bachelors & Bachelorettes” was held at Aqua Bar and Grill in Rehoboth Beach, Del. on Sunday, August 10. The event raised money for the LGBTQ community center, CAMP Rehoboth.
Truitt)
Eco-friendly oldies but goodies: Prius, Leaf
Toyota, Nissan still producing these sleeker, smarter legends
By JOE PHILLIPS
Oversized SUVs dominate parking lots like they’re the headliners at suburban music festivals, but there’s real artistry on the road with two compact eco-car legends: the Nissan Leaf and Toyota Prius. Both are now sleeker, smarter and much more fun than their early-2000s selves.
Think of them as queer kickball teammates: The Leaf is the quiet nerd who’s secretly hilarious, while the Prius is the glam social butterfly who somehow knows everyone
CONS: Limited in range, charging options and cubbies.
IN A NUTSHELL: Ditching its bug-eyed looks, the latest Nissan Leaf flaunts a trendier style—not too edgy, but not bland either. You can dress this electric vehicle up in colors like Deep Blue Pearl or Scarlet Ember, making it flamboyant enough for a Pride parade. Inside, the design is practical but not frumpy: enviro-friendly fabrics, a logical layout for gauges and an interior that feels airy.
The standard Leaf S comes with a 147-horsepower electric motor and 149-mile range, while the Leaf SV Plus offers more oomph: a 214-horsepower motor and 215mile range. Either ride is powerful enough for daily commuting or shortish weekend getaways. But while you can “fast charge” the battery pack to 80% in about 40 minutes— enough time to grab a latte and spill some gossip—the rather dated port mechanism needs an adapter for use at many of today’s charging stations.
Still, this EV feels nimble and ready to play in tight spaces. Another plus: The regenerative braking—with easygoing one-pedal driving—makes it feel like you are gently teleporting to destinations.
While a bevy of new EVs offer more range, power and features, it’s the Leaf’s low MSRP that is such a draw. This means the list of base-model amenities is solid but not overflowing: steel wheels with plastic covers, automatic headlights, remote entry and smartphone integration.
Step up to the Leaf SV Plus for larger wheels, power driver’s seat, nav system and better stereo. An app also lets you remotely cool or heat the cabin, as well as check for battery-charging time, range and even nearby stations—because nothing kills a vibe like
running low on juice mid-trip.
For me, the Leaf is a low-drama, high-reliability EV. Not as flashy as some newcomers, but still able to hit all its marks.
TOYOTA PRIUS
$30,000
Mpg: 57city/56 highway
0 to 60 mph: 7.1 seconds
Cargo space: 23.8 cu. ft.
PROS: Steller fuel economy. Quicker and sexier now.
CONS: Reduced rear headroom. Bit noisy at times.
IN A NUTSHELL: Remember when the Toyota Prius was the butt of car jokes? Those days are over. The latest version is a full-on glow-up story—new look, new attitude, same eco-friendly heart. If the old Prius was sensible sandals, this one is a designer sneaker (or Prada heels, even) that still supports your arch.
Exterior colors are quite outré, such as Wind Chill Pearl, Supersonic Red and Cutting Edge—a metallic silver with a sparkling finish that changes depending on the lighting. Yep, bling!
Under the hood, the hybrid system pairs a 2.0-liter engine with two electric motors for a combined 194 horsepower (or 220 horsepower in the all-wheel-drive Prius Prime plug-in, which can go up to 44 miles on battery power alone). This Prius is quicker than any previous model and still delivers incredible fuel economy. Oh, and braking is better than ever, too.
Steering feels more responsive, the ride is composed and the lower stance means this hybrid corners with actual confidence. You won’t confuse it for a sports car, but you might just take the long way home.
Inside, the cabin is modern and minimalist, with an emphasis on clean lines and quality finishes. The digital gauge display is now front and center (finally!), and the infotainment system is quick and easy to use. Smartphone integration and a full suite of driver-assist features are standard. There’s enough room for four adults to ride comfortably, and the hatchback layout means it can swallow IKEA flat-packs without complaint.
The Prius has gone from quirky wallflower to confident main character. Efficient, practical, and unexpectedly attractive—it’s like Cinderella, who finally realized she was gorgeous all along.
NISSAN LEAF
TOYOTA PRIUS
The case for long-term vs. short-term rentals
Insights for smart landlords
By SCOTT BLOOM
SCOTT BLOOM is owner and Senior Property Manager of Columbia Property Management. For more information and resources, visit www.ColumbiaPM.com
As a residential property manager here in Washington, D.C., I often speak to landlords deciding between long-term rentals and short-term platforms like Airbnb. At first glance, short-term options can seem attractive with their higher income potential. But that comes with increased risk—more vacancies, property issues, and hands-on management. Over time, a long-term strategy tends to be more sustainable for most investors, especially those with full-time commitments.
Significant Time and Stress
One of the biggest benefits of long‑term rentals is the time and stress you avoid. With reliable tenants, the lease runs month-by-month, requiring minimal involvement once the setup is complete. That allows landlords to step back and rely on a steady income.
Moreover, longer-term tenants are more likely to treat the property as their home, reporting maintenance issues promptly and respecting the space. Landlords often find they build deeper relationships with tenants, which can reduce conflicts and improve overall property care.
Unpredictable Regulations for Short‑Term Rentals
Short-term rentals face a shifting regulatory environment. Cities and homeowners associations increasingly impose restrictions or bans—Washington, D.C. included. Local rules can change quickly and enforcement can be strict.
Additionally, short-term hosts must stay on top of licensing, inspections, transient lodging taxes, and insurance changes. Missteps can lead to costly penalties. By contrast, the long-term approach is overseen by more stable and predictable regulations, which helps landlords plan confidently for equity growth and passive income.
Demand Dynamics: Why Long‑Term Is More Reliable
Long‑term rentals benefit from steady, residential demand—people always need housing. During economic disruptions like the COVID-19 pandemic, Airbnb-style rentals collapsed, while long-term lease demand remained strong.
In D.C., with its many multi-year government, nonprofit, and academic professionals, long-term rentals enjoy constant occupancy. These tenants tend to stay longer, turnover costs are lower, and revenue is more predict-
able year after year.
Consumer Challenges in Short‑Term Rentals
On the consumer side, short-term rentals are increasingly unreliable. Seasonality drives wide swings in availability and pricing. Beach towns, ski areas, and tourist hubs can become prohibitively expensive during peak season, then nearly empty off-season. Guests expecting consistent value may instead encounter price surges or limited selection.
Consumer expectations are also shifting. Many guests report disappointment with listings that over-promise and under-deliver. One early Airbnb user, Isabel Heine, now a New York attorney, summed up the change bluntly:
“I don’t stay in Airbnbs anymore… hotels are cheaper and better in every way.”Isabel Heinie, New York Attorney, Business Insider
Isabel Heine’s experience reflects a broader trend: guests expect transparency, consistent quality, and value—and too often feel Airbnb falls short.
Numerous complaints stem from misleading listings—amenities marketed that aren’t delivered, surprise shared spaces when a private stay was booked, and a lack of accountability when things go wrong. For example, one consumer reported a pond view listing that turned out to be unusable, yet Airbnb refused a refund despite earlier support promising one.
Super‑Host Listings and Investor‑Owned Properties
Many guests now specifically seek listings from “Super Hosts,” believing this ensures quality and reliability.
But these Super Hosts are often professional operators or investors, not local landlords with a personal stake in tenant satisfaction. The rental may look great in photos, but if something goes wrong, there’s no ongoing connection or willingness to work with the guest. Without landlord-tenant continuity, resolution and accountability can vanish.
Seasonality and Changing Consumer Preferences
Seasonal volatility means prices and availability shift dramatically—guests paying premium rates in high season may later feel they’ve overpaid, while off-season offerings shrink. Meanwhile, shifting consumer preferences prioritize predictability, transparency, and value.
With hotels increasingly competitive on price and quality—narrowing the AirBnB-hotel price gap from 49% in 2019 to 26% by 2022—many travelers are choosing traditional accommodations instead.
The Bottom Line for D.C. Landlords
For most small-scale landlords in the D.C. area, long-term rentals remain the most effective way to grow property portfolios without exposing yourself to volatility. Long-term tenants deliver stability, less hands-on time, better community integration, and more consistent income. Meanwhile, short-term rentals increasingly face consumer dissatisfaction, fluctuating demand, and regulatory uncertainty.
At my company, we’ve helped D.C. landlords make smart long-term choices since 2012. If you’re ready to simplify your rental approach and focus on steady growth, we’d be happy to help craft a strategy that aligns with your goals.
BETSY TWIGG
Associate Broker | Licensed in Virginia 703.967.4391 (CELL ) betsy.twigg@corcoranmce.com
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