Washington Blade, Volume 56, Issue 45, November 07, 2025

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Community Partners

Spanberger wins race for Virginia governor

Former Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger on Tuesday defeated Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears in the Virginia gubernatorial race.

Spanberger, a Democrat, defeated Earle-Sears, her Republican challenger, by a 56.343.5 percent margin.

Earle-Sears declared during the gubernatorial debate that opposing marriage equality and employment protections for the LGBTQ community is  “not discrimination.” The candidate also holds a “moral opposition” to marriage equality.

Spanberger, who former President Barack Obama and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg endorsed, supports LGBTQ rights.

She co-sponsored the Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBTQ discrimination in federal law. Restoration of America PAC, a collection of conservative groups, in a campaign ad described Spanberger  “as extreme as it gets” because of her stance on transgender rights.

Spanberger will succeed Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in January.

The former congresswoman will be Virginia’s first female governor.

“My fellow Virginians, tonight we sent a message to every corner of the commonwealth, a message to our neighbors, and to our fellow Americans across the country,” Spanberger told supporters in Richmond after she defeated Earle-Sears. “We sent a message to the whole world that in 2025, Virginia chose pragmatism over partisanship. We chose our commonwealth over chaos.”

The governor-elect added she will “serve all Virginians” and will “work to get politics out of schools.”

U.S. Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) in a statement said Spanberger “will be the leader we need in Virginia who will stand up to President Trump and put our communities first.”

Also in Virginia, Former state Del. Jay Jones defeated incumbent Attorney General Jason Miyares in the state’s attorney general race.

Miyares, a Republican who was a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates, has been attorney general since 2022. Miyares lost to his Democratic challenger by a 47.4-52.2 percent margin.

Miyares in a 2023 letter to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said school districts  must adhere to the state’s new guidelines for transgender and nonbinary students that activists say could potentially out them. Miyares also joined other state attorneys general who challenged the Biden-Harris administration’s Title IX rules that specifically protected LGBTQ students from discrimination based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.

Youngkin and Miyares earlier this year launched an investigation into how Loudoun County Public Schools has handled the case of three male high school students who complained about a transgender student in a boys’ locker room.

The election took place weeks after screenshots of Jones texting a colleague about a scenario in which he shot former Virginia House Speaker Todd Gilbert, a Republican.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS & SHREYA JYOTISHI

Gay Republican loses race for Virginia lieutenant governor

John Reid became first out nominee for statewide office in Va.

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

John Reid, a gay conservative former radio talk show host in Richmond for many years, lost his race as the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor in Virginia on Tuesday, falling short of becoming the state’s first openly gay person to win a statewide office.

According to the Virginia Board of Elections, with votes counted in 129 of the state’s 133 localities, Democrat Ghazala F. Hashmi, a member of the Virginia State Senate, captured 55.45 percent of the vote, with 1,822,889 votes compared to Reid, who received 44.30 percent with 1,456,335 votes.

The election board results at 11:30 p.m. on election night also showed there were 8,391 write-in votes cast in the lieutenant governor’s race at 0.26 percent.

While Reid fell short of becoming Virginia’s first out LGBTQ statewide office holder, Hashmi broke another barrier by becoming both the state and the nation’s first Muslim woman elected to a statewide office.

The Progressive Voters Guide has reported that Hash-

mi supports LGBTQ rights  as part of a broader progressive agenda that includes public education, reproductive rights, and environmental justice.

Gay longtime Virginia State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Ale-

xandria) endorsed Hashmi’s candidacy and told the Washington Blade he recently took her on a campaign tour of the Del Ray section of Alexandria.

In an interview with the Blade in April, Reid responded to a question of what message he had for LGBTQ voters in Virginia.

“Well, the thing I would say to gay voters who are looking and examining the candidates, is that I was out of the closet as a gay Republican publicly in very difficult rooms where people weren’t accepting of gay men – long before Donald Trump said I don’t care about this stuff,” he said.

“So even though I’m a Republican I know some people in the LGBT community are reflexively hostile to Republicans,” he told the Blade, “I took that step in public, and I think I helped change a lot of minds within the Republican Party and within central Virginia, which continues to be pretty conservative place, by being true to who I am.”

Virginia Gov.-elect ABIGAIL SPANBERGER speaks at a pre-Election Day campaign event. (Photo courtesy of Spanberger’s campaign)

JAY JONES was elected attorney general in Virginia. (Photo courtesy of Jones)

JOHN REID lost his bid for Virginia lieutenant governor. (Photo courtesy of John Reid)

Mamdani, Sherrill lead Democratic comeback

Democrats on Tuesday scored big wins in New Jersey and in New York City.

Former Navy lieutenant and Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill won the New Jersey governor’s race, while Zohran Mamdani won New York City’s mayoral race over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, becoming the first Indian and Muslim person to hold the office.

Off-year elections are widely considered to be a kind of report card for the sitting president. When there’s general disapproval of the current commander-in-chief, the opposing party tends to perform better. If this past election cycle is any indication of how the American public views the Trump-Vance administration, things aren’t looking good for the Republican Party.

One of the night’s biggest winners was Sherrill, who defeated former Republican state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, becoming New Jersey’s first Democratic female governor in the state’s history. She was also endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign for her work in advocating for the LGBTQ community.

Before becoming governor-elect of the Garden State, Sherrill served as a federal prosecutor and attorney, then as a member of multiple committees during her tenure in the U.S. House of Representatives. The most notable include the Armed Services Committee, which oversees military-related legislation, and the Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party, which works to “strengthen the economy, rebuild [our] supply chains, speak out for human rights, [and] stand against military aggression” as China emerges as a

global power.

In addition to those committee roles, Sherrill was a member of several Congressional caucuses — including the Congressional Equality Caucus, which advances LGBTQ rights nationwide; the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which aims to improve maternal health outcomes for Black women; and the New Democrat Coalition, which promotes centrist, or slightly left-ofcenter, policy initiatives in the House.

During her campaign, Sherrill focused on lowering the cost of living in New Jersey and addressing the surging cost of energy through an electricity price

freeze.

Her campaign, however, wasn’t without controversy.

Ciattarelli criticized her over a cheating scandal at the U.S. Naval Academy in 1994, where she was ultimately barred from walking at graduation for refusing to turn in classmates who cheated. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore publicly condemned the Trump-Vance administration for releasing unredacted military records from Sherrill’s time at the academy, a move she also denounced in her victory speech, saying, “this nation has not ever been, nor will it ever be, ruled by kings.” The remark was a clear allusion to the massive “No Kings” protests and to President Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian rhetoric.

Another major win for Democrats came across the Hudson River with Mamdani’s victory in New York City’s mayoral race.

Mamdani ran a progressive campaign focused on improving life for its most vulnerable residents — proposing free city buses, public childcare, city-owned grocery stores, expanded LGBTQ rights with particular attention to transgender rights amid a tumultuous time for that community, a rent freeze on rent-stabilized units, expanded affordable housing, public safety reform, and a $30 minimum wage by 2030. He plans to fund these initiatives through a tax increase on New York City residents earning $1 million or more annually.

Before becoming mayor-elect, Mamdani was elected to the New York State Assembly in 2020 and was re-elected twice before deciding to run for mayor.

JOE REBERKENNY

Trial begins for gay man charged with throwing sandwich at federal agent

Jury views video of incident that went viral on social media

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Prosecutors showed jurors a video of Sean Charles Dunn throwing a sub sandwich into the chest of a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agent at the bustling intersection of 14th and U streets, N.W. at around 11 p.m. on Aug. 10 of this year on the opening day of Dunn’s trial that has drawn national attention.

According to a knowledgeable source, Dunn threw the sandwich at the agent after shouting obscenities at him and other federal law enforcement officers who were stationed at that location after he was refused admission to the nearby gay bar Bunker for being too intoxicated.

Charging documents and reports by witnesses show that Dunn expressed outrage that the federal officers were stationed there and at other locations in D.C. under orders from President Donald Trump  to help curtail crime in the city.

Prosecutors with the Office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. initially attempted to obtain a grand jury indictment of Dunn on a felony assault charge, but the grand jury refused to hand down an indictment on that charge, court records show. Prosecutors then filed a criminal complaint against Dunn on the misdemeanor charge of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers of the United States.

“Dunn stood within inches of Victim 1,” a criminal com-

plaint states, “pointed his finger in Victim 1’s face, and yelled, Fuck you! You fucking fascists! Why are you here? I don’t want you in my city!”

The complaint adds, “Dunn continued his conduct for several minutes before crossing the street and continuing to yell obscenities at V-1. At approximately 11:06 p.m. Dunn approached V-1 and threw a sandwich at him, striking V-1 in the chest.”

The complaint continues by stating, “An Instagram video recorded by an observer captured the incident. The video depicts Dunn screaming at V-1 within inches of his face for several seconds before winding his arm back and forcefully throwing a sub-style sandwich at V-1.”

At the opening day of testimony at the trial on Tuesday, Nov. 4, V-1, who was identified as Customs and Border Patrol Agent Gregory Lairmore, testified as the first government witness. Also testifying was Metro Transit Police Detective Daina Henry, who said she was present at the scene and saw Dunn throw the sandwich at Lairmore.

The position taken by Dunn’s defense attorneys is outlined in a 24-page memorandum in support of a motion filed on Oct. 15 calling for the dismissal of the case, which was denied by U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols.

“This prosecution is a blatant abuse of power,” the defense memo states. “The federal government has chosen to bring a criminal case over conduct so minor it would be comical – were it not for the unmistakable retaliatory  motive behind it and the resulting risk to Mr. Dunn.”

It adds, “Mr. Dunn tossed a sandwich at a fully armed, heavily protected Customs and Border Protection {CBP} officer. That act alone would never have drawn a federal charge. What did was the political speech that accompanied it.”

The trial was scheduled to resume at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5.

Posters depicting Sean Charles Dunn throwing a sandwich quickly appeared around the city last summer.

(Blade photo by Joe Reberkenny)

New York City Mayor-elect ZOHRAN MAMDANI (Screenshot courtesy of Zohran Mamdani’s YouTube channel)

41 days and counting: Rep.-elect Grijalva says

‘this has gone way too far’

Arizona official blames delay on her support for releasing Epstein files

By JOE REBERKENNY | jreberkenny@washblade.com

Adelita Grijalva, the recently elected representative from Arizona’s Seventh Congressional District, has already begun making history—without having stepped foot into the Capitol. Grijalva is now officially the longest-delayed member of the House to be sworn in—41 days and counting.

She was elected in a special election on Sept. 23 by a two-to-one margin over her Republican opponent, following the death of her father, Raúl Grijalva, who had represented the district from 2003 until early 2025. The district includes a large portion of Arizona’s southern border with Mexico.

Despite being elected more than 40 days ago, Grijalva has not been given the opportunity to begin her work representing Arizona in the House of Representatives.

Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House and a representative from Louisiana, has offered several explanations for the delay in swearing in Grijalva—ranging from waiting until all votes were certified in the special election (despite not requiring Republicans who also won special elections to wait) to claiming the House needed to return from recess (despite precedent showing new members are typically sworn in the day after their election, regardless of whether the House is in session). Most recently, Johnson has said Grijalva will not be sworn in until the government reopens.

The Washington Blade sat down with Grijalva to discuss the historic delay in her swearing-in, the importance of protecting transgender rights, book bans, environmental issues, and much more.

While Speaker Johnson has given many explanations for the delay, Grijalva said one stands out above the rest—the Epstein files. She ran on a promise to sign a discharge petition to force a vote for the release of the complete Epstein files, a hypothesized document containing the names of high-profile clients to whom the American financier and convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein trafficked young girls. Her signature on the petition would be the 218th, the minimum number required to force a vote.

“I’ve now broken all the records for speaker obstruction. Nobody else has ever had to wait this long just to represent their constituents… I never received one communication directly from his office,” Grijalva said of Speaker Johnson’s lack of reasoning for the delay. “It seems to me they’re doing everything they can to stop the release of the Epstein files, and I just don’t know what else it could be.”

She added that Johnson’s obstruction isn’t just about her—it’s about the people she was elected to serve.

“We have 812,000 people here in Congressional District 7, and my problem is there’s so much we can’t do,” she said. “So when Speaker Johnson has little side comments to say about what I should and shouldn’t be doing, it’s like—why don’t you do your job so I can do mine?”

For Grijalva, the issue isn’t partisan—it’s about principle. “It shouldn’t matter my party. I won my election fairly and legally, and there’s no reason why my voters should be punished because the Speaker doesn’t like what I stand for,” she said.

She also pointed out the irony that her call for transparency on the Epstein files mirrors one made by Donald Trump himself during his presidential campaign.

“Trump ran on day one, ‘I’m going to release those files,’ and I think he got into office, saw what was in them, and said, ‘Maybe we wait on that,’” she explained. “That’s what I feel is happening now—they’re trying to delay and distract from something that’s going to make a lot of powerful people look bad.”

Still, Grijalva said not all Republicans support Johnson’s decision to keep her from being sworn in. “A couple Republicans have said, ‘Yeah, she should be sworn in. This is crazy.’ I appreciate that—it shouldn’t matter my party. I should be sworn in, period. I think some people on their side know this has gone way too far.”

As the government shutdown drags on, Grijalva said the consequences of congressional inaction are becoming increasingly dire for ordinary Americans.

“Who’s really suffering are the federal workers—people on federal grants, SNAP benefits—who don’t know when they’ll get their next paycheck or how they’ll feed their families,” she said. “These are real-life consequences while they play political games.”

Her frustration over the Epstein files remains steadfast. Grijalva said accountability and transparency must come before politics.

“I don’t care who’s implicated. I don’t care what party they are. If you committed a crime—if you raped children and women—you deserve legal consequences. Survivors deserve transparency and justice so they can begin healing.”

Beyond political accountability, Grijalva also emphasized the urgent need to address environmental degradation—a crisis that hits especially close to home.

“Trump doesn’t care about our environment. If there’s a dollar to be made, he’s going to do it, and he’s not thinking about the long-term consequences for people who actually have to live with the damage,” she said.

The Trump-Vance administration has rolled back a

slew of Biden-era environmental policies, from pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Climate Accords to weakening pollution standards and expanding drilling for fossil fuels. For Grijalva, these choices have real, human consequences.

“My dad lived in a Superfund site and drank poisoned water for 15 years. Cancer is now part of our family because of that. These policies aren’t abstract—they hurt real people.”

Her father, the late Raúl Grijalva, passed away from lung cancer earlier this year. The Environmental Working Group estimates that between 100,000 and 122,000 cancer cases in the U.S. may stem from contaminated water—something Grijalva said her family understand all too well.

She also pointed out how allowing environmental destruction by repealing laws meant to protect natural resources threatens Arizona’s economy and identity.

“Arizona is an ecotourism hotspot—there are thousands of jobs tied to protecting our lands. When you destroy it, you can’t put it back together,” she said. “The mining laws are so old that we don’t even get any proceeds for years. It’s like someone digging in your backyard, taking your gold, and then telling you to buy it back later.”

“When people say environmental protection isn’t a priority, I just think of my dad and of our state,” she added. “You don’t gamble with people’s health for a quick profit.”

Shifting to social issues, Grijalva spoke at length about protecting transgender rights during a time when many—particularly on the right—continue to villainize the community.

“Trans rights are human rights. That’s it,” she said firmly. “When I say I’ll speak up for those who don’t feel they have a voice, I mean everybody—especially people who’ve been pushed to the margins.”

She didn’t shy away from calling out members of her own party who, in her view, haven’t done enough. “It’s disappointing that some Democrats are willing to stay silent as a whole community is being attacked,” she said. “Maybe they’ve never known what it’s like to be targeted, but once you have, you stand up for those who need more support.”

“I believe gender-affirming care is life-saving care,” she continued. “We have to push back against these anti-LGBTQ laws and fight for the Equality Act because the federal government has a responsibility to protect people, not erase them.”

“It’s not the government’s business who you love or who you are,” she added. “You should have the autonomy to be whoever you want to be—that is America.”

The congresswoman also spoke passionately about the growing movement to ban books and target libraries—something she called “deeply personal.”

“I’m not only the wife—I’m the daughter and sister of librarians,” Grijalva said with a laugh. “So if I’m not an advocate for our libraries, I’m in a lot of trouble. There should not be banned books. Those stories are a lifeline for students who don’t have support at home.”

The yet-to-be sworn in ADELITA GRIJALVA holds up Pride flags during a campaign event earlier this year.

(Photo courtesy of Adelita Grijalva for Congress)

Former VP Dick Cheney dies at 84

Former Vice President Dick Cheney died of complications from pneumonia and cardio and vascular disease, according to a family statement released Tuesday morning. He was 84.

Cheney served as vice president under President George W. Bush for eight years and previously as defense secretary under President George H.W. Bush. He also served as a House member from Wyoming and as White House chief of staff for President Gerald Ford.

“Dick Cheney was a great and good man who taught his children and grandchildren to love our country, and

to live lives of courage, honor, love, kindness, and fly fishing,” his family said in a statement. “We are grateful beyond measure for all Dick Cheney did for our country. And we are blessed beyond measure to have loved and been loved by this noble giant of a man.”

Cheney had a complicated history on LGBTQ issues; he and wife Lynne had two daughters, Liz Cheney and Mary Cheney, who’s a lesbian. Mary Cheney was criticized by LGBTQ advocates for not joining the fight against President George W. Bush’s push for a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. She later resumed support for LGBTQ issues in 2009, including same-sex marriage, after her father left office in 2009. She married her partner since 1992, Heather Poe, in 2012.

In 2010, after leaving office, Cheney predicted “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” would “be changed” and expressed support for reconsideration of the law banning open military service.

In 2013, the Cheney family’s disagreements over marriage equality spilled into the public eye after Liz Cheney announced her opposition to same-sex couples legally marrying. Mary Cheney took to Facebook to rebuke her sister: “Liz – this isn’t just an issue on which we disagree – you’re just wrong – and on the wrong side of history.” Dick and Lynne Cheney were supporters of marriage equality by 2013. Liz Cheney eventually came around years later.

Cheney, a neo-con, was often criticized for his handling of the Iraq war. He was considered one of the most powerful and domineering vice presidents of the modern era. He disappeared from public life for years but re-emerged to help Liz Cheney in her House re-election bid after she clashed with President Trump. Dick Cheney assailed Trump in a campaign video and later Liz announced that her father would vote for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Bailey is People’s first openly gay ‘Sexiest Man Alive’

Actor Jonathan Bailey made history Monday after he was named People magazine’s first openly gay “Sexiest Man Alive.”

Bailey is known for his starring role in “Wicked,” as well as well-received turns in “Bridgerton” and “Fellow Travelers,” for which he was nominated for an Emmy. He returns to the big screen on Nov. 21 in the “Wicked: For Good” sequel.

Bailey announced the news on the Nov. 3 “Tonight Show” with Jimmy Fallon.

“It’s the honor of a lifetime,” Bailey, 37, said. “I want to say, Jimmy, thank you so much for turning it down so that I could be here.”

Bailey told People, “It’s a huge honor. Obviously I’m incredibly flattered. And it’s completely absurd. It’s been a secret, so I’m quite excited for some friends and family to find out.”

People launched its popular “Sexiest Man Alive” issue in 1985 with inaugural winner Mel Gibson. Last year’s winner was actor John Krasinski.

Bailey came out publicly in 2018 and founded a nonprofit, Shameless Fund, which raises money for LGBTQ organizations and issues.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Trump moves to ban affirming care for trans youth

The Trump-Vance administration is pushing to end all gender-affirming care for transgender youth, according to a new proposal from the Department of Health and Human Services.

Texts obtained by NPR show the proposed healthcare policy changes would prohibit federal Medicaid reimbursement for medical care provided to trans patients under 18, and would also prohibit reimbursement through the Children’s Health Insurance Program for patients under 19.

Another proposal found by NPR shows the administration is considering blocking all Medicaid and Medicare funding for any services at hospitals that provide pediatric gender-affirming care.

The proposals are set to be released in early November, according to NPR’s source from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.

Nearly all medical associations in the U.S. support gender-affirming care for trans youth and have emphasized its importance for the mental health of trans young people. These actions are consistent with the goals of the Trump-Vance administration. Days after being sworn into

office, Trump signed an executive order stating that the U.S. “will not fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support the so-called ‘transition’ of a child from one sex to another.”

The administration also ended a federal suicide prevention lifeline specifically for transgender youth and canceled hundreds of millions of dollars in scientific research funding related to LGBTQ people.

The anti-trans rhetoric the administration is pushing has become a major focus of its operations.

Officials have even blamed part of the government shutdown on Democrats’ support for gender-affirming care — or, as the Department of Agriculture’s website refers to it, “gender mutilation procedures.”

There are currently 27 states that ban gender-affirming care for trans youth, according to data collected by the Human Rights Campaign. This widespread push to police trans healthcare comes despite the relatively small number of trans-identifying youth, only about 724,000 individuals, or 3.3 percent of the U.S. population, according to the Willams Institute

Many hospitals receive a large portion of their funding from Medicare, which would ultimately force them to stop providing this care in order to continue receiving federal

dollars. That, Katie Keith, director of the Center for Health Policy and Law at Georgetown University, explained to NPR, would make it nearly impossible to access gender-affirming care — even at private hospitals and clinics.

“These rules would be a significant escalation in the Trump administration’s attack on access to transgender health care,” Keith said.

Ellen Kahn, senior vice president of equality programs at HRC, spoke out against the proposed policy changes, saying the decision to implement them would only hurt American families.

“This latest attempt to strip best-practice health care from trans young people would place parents and doctors in an impossible position in service of the far-right’s culture war on transgender people,” Kahn said in a statement. “Any proposed rule that would strip federal dollars from providers who dare to defy the administration’s political agenda by caring for trans youth would help no one, hurt countless families, and send a dangerous message that only the president himself — not doctors, not parents, not even you — can decide what health care you can access.”

JOE REBERKENNY

DICK CHENEY died at age 84.

Former Irish PM says Europe is leader in global LGBTQ rights

Leo Varadkar in 2017 became Ireland’s first gay head of government.

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Former Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar last month said Europe is now at the forefront of the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement.

“In many ways, Europe is the light,” he told the Washington Blade on Oct. 20 during an interview that took place near Harvard University. “It’s holding up against anti-LGBTQ policies.”

Varadkar, 46, in 2017 became Ireland’s first gay prime minister.

He stepped down in 2020 after his center-right party, Fine Gael, lost 15 parliament seats in the general election, but he remained in the government. Varadkar, whose father was born in Mumbai, in 2022 once again became prime minister.

Varadkar in 2024  resigned and stepped down as Fine Gael’s leader.

The Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights on Oct. 16 announced Varadkar’s appointment as a senior fellow for its Global LGBTQI+ Human Rights Program for the 2025-2026 academic year. He — along with former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and former acting Treasury Secretary David Lebryk — are also  Hauser Leaders at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership for this year’s fall semester.

Varadkar during his fellowship will focus on LGBTQ and intersex rights within the EU.

He sat down with the Blade on the same day he spoke at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Varadkar on Tuesday participated in an event in Brussels that focused on LGBTQ and intersex rights in the EU.

The European Commission on Oct. 8  released an LGBTQ and intersex rights strategy that focuses on three specific areas:

• Protecting LGBTIQ+ people (from hate-motivated harassment and violence, from discrimination, from conversion practices)

• Empowering LGBTIQ+ people through (equality bodies, rainbow families, promoting inclusion at workplace)

• Engaging society to advance LGBTIQ+ equality by (calling on all EU countries to adopt national strategies, improving the data collection and analysis, launching an ‘LGBTIQ+ Policy Forum’)

“It’s not wonderful, but at least it was done,” said Varadkar. “You won’t see that done in China, Russia, or even the United States, unfortunately.”

“Europe needs to hold the line, but also we want to focus on places where there is backsliding, like Bulgaria, like Slovakia,” he added, while also referring to the Czech Republic and Hungary.

Varadkar is among those who participated in this year’s Budapest Pride, even though Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government banned public LGBTQ events.

“It wasn’t just a regular Pride protest, and in Eastern Europe Pride is still a protest, very much so …  they’re met by football hooligans, and police who aren’t necessarily there to support there to protect them,” Varadkar told the Blade. “This time, everyone joined in: students, unions, families, even more moderate political forces that might not always want to be associated with the LGBT cause, but it became about freedom of expression and became

about free speech, and that’s why there was such a big turnout.”

Varadkar since he left office has also traveled to Bulgaria to support the country’s LGBTQ activists. Varadkar also spoke to the Blade about Russia and the Kremlin’s efforts to “influence and destabilize European societies.”

Russia in 2022 launched its war against Ukraine.

dapest Pride was being banned.”

Ireland is among the countries that have issued travel advisories for transgender and nonbinary people who are planning to visit the U.S. since the Trump-Vance administration took office.

“One of the ways they do that is through election interference and misinformation online, and they’ve identified this as an issue that can divide European societies,” said Varadkar, specifically referring to the Russian government’s opposition to LGBTQ rights and its overall human rights record. “[Russian President Vladimir] Putin has very much embraced the idea of traditional values and Russian Orthodox Christianity, and he’s using that as a wedge issue in Central and Eastern Europe.”

“So as ever our fight is part of a bigger fight that’s linked to things like democracy, human rights, academic freedom, press freedom,” added Varadkar. “We’re on the front line in the same battle, in my view.”

He also said the EU needs to be pragmatic in how it responds to Orbán and other anti-LGBTQ leaders.

“[The EU] is in a bit of a dilemma as to how it acts, how it does withdraw funding sometimes from countries if they’re in breach of the standards around the rule of law,” said Varadkar.

The European Commission in 2021 threatened to withhold funding to local and regional governments in Poland that declared themselves “LGBT-free zones.” The European Commission in 2022 sued Hungary over a law that a press release  notes “singles out and targets content that ‘promotes or portrays’ what it refers to as ‘divergence from self-identity corresponding to sex at birth, sex change or homosexuality’ for individuals under 18.”

“Some of the more nationalist and populist leaders in Central and Eastern Europe; there’s nothing they want more than a fight with Brussels, these Western European elites … trying to impose their ideology on our country,” Varadkar told the Blade. “So that’s why I think the European Union has to be smart as to how it acts.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is among those who condemned the Budapest Pride ban. Varadkar told the Blade he “was disappointed there wasn’t more action” from Brussels “in relation to why Bu-

President Donald Trump shortly after his inauguration issued a sweeping executive order — Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government — that, among other things, bans the State Department from issuing passports with “X” gender markers. Trump in his inaugural speech also said the federal government will only recognize two genders: male and female.

Trump in February  issued another executive order that bans trans women and girls from female sports teams. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in August  announced it will ensure “male aliens seeking immigration benefits aren’t coming to the U.S. to participate in women’s sports.”

The promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad was a cornerstone of the Biden-Harris administration’s overall foreign policy.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Jan. 24  directed State Department personnel to stop nearly all U.S. foreign aid spending for 90 days in response to  an executive order that Trump signed after his inauguration. Rubio later  issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue operating after bowing to pressure, but the Blade has reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down because of gaps in U.S. funding.

Rubio in March announced 83 percent of U.S. Agency for International Development contacts had been cancelled, and the State Department would administer the remaining programs. USAID officially shut down on July 1.

The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding since the Trump-Vance administration took office.

“It has an impact, particularly on organizations in the Global South and in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Varadkar.

Varadkar told the Blade he is working with the Global Development Project and other philanthropic organizations to “fill some of the gap” in funding.

He said the current situation “demonstrates why we should never be too dependent on any government or corporations.” Varadkar also spoke more broadly about the Trump-Vance administration and its policies.

“I’m a guest in this country. I’m not here to tell you what to do. The American people decide who the president is. I don’t, but I am genuinely disappointed to see the backsliding on human rights and academic freedom and free speech here in America,” said Varadkar.

Varadkar also said he admires U.S. Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), who in 2024 became the first openly trans person elected to Congress.

“She’s there for everyone in Delaware, and yes, she is trans too,” Varadkar told the Blade. “She’s willing to be a leader, but I think as LGBT leaders, we should make sure that our causes are part of the wider welfare and society and not separate.”

Former Irish Prime Minister LEO VARADKAR (Photo courtesy of Anne-Marie Hennigan)

is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com

Dick Cheney was a disastrous VP and not a true LGBTQ ally

Mainstream media gloss over war crimes, crippled economy, and more

Here we go again. Every time a deeply flawed public official dies, the mainstream media unleash their pre-written, pre-taped obituaries that gloss over all the terrible things the deceased did in public life.

This week’s example: former Vice President Dick Cheney, who served in the role for eight years during the disastrous George W. Bush presidency.

Cheney’s record is filled with so much death, destruction, corruption, lying, and scandal that it’s hard to summarize here.

Despite that record, which many human rights advocates argued should have landed him in the Hague, the Log Cabin Republicans praised Cheney during his time in office as a proponent of same-sex marriage and of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The truth is a bit more complicated.

Let’s start with the war crimes.

After the 9/11 terror attacks, the entire world supported the United States. President Bush’s domestic approval rating was above 90 percent as both parties rallied around our president. Bush and Cheney squandered all that good will by invading Iraq — a country that had nothing to do with 9/11 and whose dictator Saddam Hussein was despised by al-Qaeda for his secular views. Cheney, Bush, and their fall guy Gen. Colin Powell lied to the United Nations and the American people about so-called “weapons of mass destruction” that Hussein might give to the terrorists.

So in 2003, we invaded Iraq, killing untold numbers of civilians. Death toll estimates vary widely, but 4,598 U.S. military personnel were killed; 3,650 U.S. contractors were killed; nearly 50,000 Iraqi military and police were killed; and civilian deaths are estimated between 461,000-655,000 according to a 2006 Lancet study and a 2013 PLOS Medicine study.

In the aftermath of 9/11, Cheney pushed the military to open “black sites” — secret overseas prisons — along with the detention facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where suspects were deprived of due process and instead subjected to torture in the form of waterboarding. Use of such tactics is illegal under the Geneva Conventions, leading some human rights groups to label Cheney a war criminal, though he was never formally charged.

Back home, Bush and Cheney used the

pretense of fighting the “war on terror” to pass the Patriot Act and engage in unprecedented surveillance of U.S. citizens, especially Muslims.

But that wasn’t the end of their reign of terror. The Bush-Cheney economic policies of tax cuts and de-regulation, along with record spending post 9/11 and the unfunded wars they launched helped produce the Great Recession of 2007-2008. The U.S. economy hadn’t seen anything like it since the Great Depression as millions of jobs were lost, millions more lost their homes, and entire industries sat on the brink of collapse.

On gay rights issues, Cheney tried to walk a more moderate line but came into conflict with his boss’s craven push to ban gay marriage. Bush’s record on gay issues should be known to any casual reader of the Blade. He pushed for a constitutional ban on our marriages and ran his re-election campaign on the backs of our relationships. That campaign was run by a closeted gay man, Ken Mehlman, who put gay marriage bans on the ballots of 11 swing states to drive out conservative voters. It worked and BushCheney won a second term. Cheney had a lesbian daughter, Mary, which complicated things for the family, especially when arch conservative sister Liz came out against gay marriage and Mary denounced her in a Facebook post.

In 2009, Cheney said he supports gays being able to marry but that states should be allowed to decide the issue.

“I think, you know, freedom means freedom for everyone,’’ Cheney said in a speech at the National Press Club. “I think people ought to be free to enter into any kind of union they wish, any kind of arrangement they wish. And I think that’s the way it ought to be handled today, that is, on a state-bystate basis. Different states will make different decisions. But I don’t have any problem with that. I think people ought to get a shot at that,’’ he said.

In 2010, during the debate over repealing the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law that destroyed the careers and livelihoods of more than 13,000 brave queer service members, Cheney again equivocated.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

Beginning of the end for Trump

Elections a good start for decent Americans who want to take back their country

Many were on pins and needles until the results were in for Tuesday’s elections. They were going to determine if Americans were really paying attention to what the felon in the White House, and his fascist associates, were doing to them and the country. Whether or not they fully understood democracy, and literally, their lives, and those of their families and friends, in some situations, were in danger. The results are now in and show Americans are awake, and concerned enough, to respond to the danger with their votes.

It is important to recognize Tuesday’s election results, are only the beginning of the end for Trump. It was one thing for millions to come out to demonstrate in “No Kings” rallies, but getting them to the ballot box is sometimes more difficult.

The big wins in Virginia for Abigail Spanberger as governor, Ghazala Hashmi, as lieutenant governor, and even Jay Jones as attorney general, despite his best efforts to sabotage his own campaign with his outrageous emails, indicate how over MAGA Republicans Virginians are. In addition, it appears Virginians will keep the legislature in Democratic hands. In New Jersey, Mikie Sherrill won big in her race for governor. Then the three Supreme Court Democrats won approval to continue in Pennsylvania. Clearly, people are paying attention, and don’t like what they are hearing and seeing, from the felon in the White House, and his fascist leaning administration.

The win for Proposition 50 in California is great. It’s the response to the outrageous effort in Texas to redistrict and disenfranchise minority voters in an effort to add five Republican congressional districts. Gov. Gavin Newsom and California responded saying, “we will not be bullied.” We will let our voters decide, and they did, approving the plan designed to add five Democratic districts in California.

All these results portend well for the 2026 mid-term elections. As we begin campaigning for candidates in 2026, we must live by the motto, “Never give up, never give in!” Democrats need to work together, if they are to take back Congress. Listen to DNC Chair Ken Martin, who said there should be a focus on every congressional seat where the incumbent Republican won by less than 15%. Those are winnable. Then of course, every open House seat and finding the five potential winnable Senate seats. Democrats should campaign knowing the American people will respond, if candidates speak to what their voters are concerned about.

Each race might look different. I have suggested to candidates who asked, they should go to the places where people in their district eat breakfast, and find out what they are talking about. Then, in the evening, head to the bars and find out what customers are talking about. Then walk the supermarket aisles and listen to conversations there. Once they have done that, they will know what issues to campaign on, and again, those issues may be different in each District.

The main promise I want from every Democratic congressional candidate in 2026 is a commitment to vote for a Democratic Speaker in the House of Representatives, and leader in the Senate. Some question what the Democratic Party stands for today. The Democratic Party platform, and its principles, have been consistent for many years. Democrats stand for equality for women, and the LGBTQ community; for civil rights, and economic equality and opportunity. They stand for affordable healthcare, and strengthening the Affordable Care Act. Democrats believe in choice, and women controlling their own healthcare and their own body. They believe in fair immigration policies, understanding our nation is a nation of immigrants. That doesn’t mean open borders, it means welcoming those who want to come to our country to build a better life for themselves and their families. Democrats believe in facing reality with regard to climate change, and doing something about it. Democrats don’t deny climate change.

It’s important to recognize most voters are concerned with what are often called ‘kitchen table’ issues. Grocery and gas prices, rent, the cost of education, and child care. They want to know if they work hard, they can live a good life, providing for themselves, and their families. Showing how Democratic candidates will work to make that happen for them, is how Democrats win. Pointing out the lies they were fed by the MAGA felon in the White House, and his fascist cohorts, is also important. Doing all this in clear, direct language is important.

Again, Tuesday’s election results are only the beginning of the end for the felon. But a great beginning for all decent Americans who want to take back their country.

Suicide and the policy crisis facing trans Americans

Not an inevitable statistic but a preventable public health emergency is a writer based in the D.C. area. He is a trans man and was featured in National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” documentary. He serves on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Contact him at isaacamendwrites@gmail.com or on Instagram at @literatipapi

Collegiate swimmer and transgender woman Lia Smith from Middlebury College recently took her own life. Her death has shaken campuses across the country, but it should also shake the conscience of policymakers. We have become too accustomed to treating trans suicide as a tragic but inevitable statistic, instead of the preventable public health crisis it is. The death of one young athlete isn’t an isolated heartbrea it s a re ection of national failure.

Transgender people are several times more likely to attempt suicide than the general population. Data from the CDC show that about one in four transgender and questioning high school students has attempted suicide in the past year, compared to fewer than one in 20 cisgender males. That gap is staggering. It’s also reversible. Decades of research and experience show that suicide risk among trans people drops dramatically when they are supported — when their identities are respected when their healthcare is affirmed and when they are treated as equal participants in civic life.

So why are we still losing so many?

The answer lies in policy. The mental health of trans Americans is not shaped only in therapy rooms or hospital wards — it is shaped in state legislatures, on college campuses, and in the daily signals society sends about whether we are welcome to exist. Every time a law is passed banning ender affirmin care restrictin participation in sports, or erasing identity from school curricula, it tells trans youth that their lives are negotiable. When adults debate their existence on television, that rhetoric trickles down into classrooms, dorm rooms, and locker rooms, where oun people alread fi htin for beloning are told, in ways subtle and overt, that they do not belong.

The environment on many campuses mirrors the national tension. A college like Middlebury is supposed to be a sanctuary for learning and growth, but trans students often find themselves fi htin invisible battles — for pronouns to be respected, for dorms that feel safe, for medical care that affirms who the are. oaches and admin-

istrators rarely receive proper training on how to support gender-diverse athletes, and campus mental health centers are often ill e uipped to handle the specific trauma of identity-based rejection. When that institutional support fails, even the strongest students — those with scholarships, discipline, and community roles — can feel isolated beyond repair.

Policy, at its best, can save lives. Research published in the Journal of Adolescent Health found that access to gender affirmin care si nificantl reduces suicidal ideation and attempts. The inverse is also true: states with laws restricting such care see measurable spikes in suicide attempts among trans youth. The Trevor Project reports that anti-trans legislation can increase the risk of suicide by as much as 70 percent. These are not abstract percentages; they represent real young people — swimmers, musicians, writers, and scholars — who might have lived had the political climate been less hostile.

Colleges and universities have a duty to fill the aps that national polic leaves behind. They can start by requiring trans-inclusive mental-health training for faculty, coaches, and residential staff. They can ensure that campus health centers understand the psychological toll of living under attack. And they can collect accurate data on mental health outcomes for trans students so that prevention efforts are based on evidence, not guesswork. These are not radical demands; they are the bare minimum for any institution that claims to care about student wellbeing.

But responsibility does not end at the campus gate. The federal government must recognize suicide among trans Americans as a national emergency — one that requires the same attention we give to veterans, farmers, or law enforcement officers at ris . undin for research mental-health infrastructure, and crisis prevention must include the trans community explicitly, not as an afterthought. The message must be clear: protecting trans lives is not a culture-war issue; it is a moral one.

LUXE WATERFRONT LIVING IN RBYCC!

LOS ANGELES — As the countdown begins to the February Winter Olympic Games in Milan, Pride House LA is shining a spotlight on queer athletes who are breaking boundaries both on and off the field. Among them is Team USA speedskater Conor McDermott-Mostowy – a fierce competitor and proud member of the queer community. With blistering speed on the ice and a steadfast commitment to equity in sports, Conor is doing so much more than winning medals – he’s redefining what it means to represent one’s country while representing one’s community.

McDermott-Mostowy is one step closer to the 2026 Winter Olympics after winning the recent silver and bronze medals at the U.S. Championships in speedskating. He appeared at a Nov. 1 event presented by Out Athlete Fund/ Pride House LA in the organization’s efforts to raise funds to support Conor and other out athletes as they pursue their Olympic dreams in Milan 2026 and beyond.The Blade spoke to the star athlete to talk about resilience, representation, and the legacy he hopes to leave one day.

Blade: Huge congrats, Conor! Winning a World Cup gold is no small feat. Do you feel like this win proved something to the world – or more importantly, to yourself?

McDermott-Mostowy: Winning gold with my team last year was definitely a major goal achieved. That said, the event we won isn’t yet an Olympic event. The races that have had the most profound impact on me actually happened two years ago.

The first was the team pursuit in Obihiro, Japan. I’d always been more of an alternate for that event, since it’s typically raced by skaters who compete in both the 1500m and 5000m. But I’d been itching for the opportunity to race it at the World Cup level. I finally got that chance when a teammate had to pull out at the last minute due to a back issue. We led the race through six of eight laps, ultimately

Gay speedskater racing toward a more inclusive future in sports

Conor McDermott-Mostowy says anti-DEI push is driving away corporate sponsors

By AJ SLOAN

finishing third. While it was a little disappointing to fall out of the lead, I was proud to prove that I could contribute meaningfully and help the team medal.

The second race was later that year in Salt Lake City, my home ice. After competing in Japan, I came down with a lung infection that affected my performance at the next few World Cups. Fortunately, I had time to recover before the North American World Cups and World Championships. At the Salt Lake City World Cup, I was balancing competition with completing my undergraduate degree. I didn’t know what to expect, but I ended up finishing fifth in the 1000m—my highest individual finish ever—and posted a time of 1:06.91. That’s a very significant time in speedskating; only three other Americans have gone under 1:07 in that event, all of whom became world champions. That result felt like a turning point, showing me that an Olympic or World Championship medal wasn’t just a dream—it was within reach.

Blade: This PrideHouse LA event is a huge moment. What does that support from the queer community mean to you?

McDermott-Mostowy: It’s incredibly meaningful. Being queer in Olympic sport can be very isolating, both inside and outside the sport. I barely have time to socialize outside of skating, and relocating to Salt Lake City doesn’t exactly help when it comes to queer community. So having that kind of solidarity and support from the wider LGBTQ+ community really means a lot.

Blade: Do you remember the moment you realized skating could take you all the way to the Olympics?

McDermott-Mostowy: There hasn’t been one single moment. It’s been a series of them. Over the years, I’ve had many races that shattered the limits I thought I had and inspired me to reach higher. That Salt Lake City race was one of them. It made me realize I shouldn’t just aim for the Olympics. I should aim for medals.

Another key moment came in 2018 at my last Junior World Cup, when my teammate and I finished 2nd and 3rd in the mass start. That event is similar to short track but held on a long track. It was my first full year focusing on long track after previously dabbling in it, and we had no expectation of medaling. But after we did, I realized I might actually have a future in this discipline—and that I could be competitive on the world stage. It was a pivotal realization, especially as I was trying to decide whether to continue skating or pursue a traditional college experience.

Blade: What initially drew you to speedskating? How did you get into the sport—and what’s kept you motivated?

McDermott-Mostowy: I grew up on skates. I started at age two and became a strong skater early on. But I never had any interest in hockey or figure skating. One winter, I was skating with my family on the C&O Canal in Washington, D.C., when a guy skated past us on these wild-looking speed skates. I was immediately intrigued. My parents found a local club, which happened to be run by three-time Olympian Nathaniel Mills, and I was hooked.

What’s kept me going is simple: I love it. This isn’t a sport

you get rich in. I’ve only earned more than $20,000 a year twice in my career, and you can’t use it to pay for college either. The motivation has to come from within—the pursuit of excellence, the dream of going to the Olympics, and pure love for the sport.

Blade: What’s been your toughest race to date, and what did it teach you?

McDermott-Mostowy: That would be the team pursuit in Japan. I wasn’t expecting to race it and had already competed in a full weekend of events before getting the call. Team pursuit is arguably the toughest event in speedskating. Stepping up without being mentally or physically prepared was a challenge, but I did it. It showed me I could push through, even under extreme circumstances.

Blade: You’ve made headlines not just for your speed, but for your openness. What was it like coming out publicly in the world of elite sport?

McDermott-Mostowy: By the time I was publicly identified as gay, I had already been out to anyone who asked. So “coming out” doesn’t feel like the right term. It wasn’t a big declaration. I had the benefit of growing up seeing openly gay athletes and being part of a supportive community. I never felt the need to hide who I was.

Eventually, as I started achieving more on the ice, people began noticing me and the content I posted, and they put two and two together. When I was asked to speak publicly about being an openly gay athlete in speedskating, I didn’t hesitate.

Blade: What have been the biggest challenges in your career – physically, mentally, or otherwise?

McDermott-Mostowy: Honestly, my entire career has been about overcoming challenges. The two biggest obstacles have been illness and finances.

I’ve dealt with asthma, a norovirus that derailed my chances in 2022, and a fatigue condition last season that affected my performance. These setbacks take a toll. Not just physically, but mentally. When you invest everything into your sport, being forced to pause or scale back is a huge emotional hurdle.

Financially, speedskating is a tough path. Even as a consistent top-20 skater in the world, I’ve only broken $20k twice in a year, and we’re paid for just nine months, even though we train year-round. I’ve leaned on friends and family for support many times just to make ends meet.

Blade: Have you ever been told – explicitly or implicitly – that being openly gay could hurt your chances with sponsors or coaches?

McDermott-Mostowy: Never with coaches. In our sport, selections are based on the clock, not someone’s opinion. My coaches have always been great.

But when it comes to sponsorships, especially over the past year, I’ve noticed a shift. As anti-DEI sentiment grows, brands are backing away from anything that could be seen as “controversial.” Being openly gay seems to fall into that category now. Since most of our income comes from sponsorships, that retreat is deeply felt.

Upcoming Performances

360 ALLSTARS

Saturday, Nov. 8 at 4 p.m. A supercharged urban circus!

MASON ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE

La Santa Cecilia

Saturday, Nov. 15 at 8 p.m.

This Grammy-winning ensemble presents a colorful performance of Pan-American rhythms

Mariza

Sunday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m.

“A dazzling, captivating force to behold” (Telegraph) VIRGINIA OPERA

Cinderella

Nov. 22–23

Rossini’s beloved retelling of the classic fairytale

Chanticleer

A Chanticleer Christmas

Saturday, Nov. 29 at 8 p.m.

“The world’s reigning male chorus” (New Yorker)

CALENDAR |

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, November 07

“Center Aging Friday Tea Time” will be at 12 p.m. in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s new location at 1827 Wiltberger St., N.W. To RSVP, visit the DC Center’s website or email adam@thedccenter.org.

GoGayDC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Social” at 7 p.m. at Silver Diner Ballston. 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, November 08

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.

Sunday Supper on Saturday will be at 2 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This event will be full of food, laughter and community. For more information, email info@thedccenter.org.

Monday, November 10

“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 information, contact Adam (adamheller@thedccenter.org).

“Soulfully Queer: LGBTQ+ Emotional Health and Spirituality Drop-In” will be at 3 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This group will meet weekly for eight weeks, providing a series of drop-in sessions designed to offer a safe, welcoming space for open and respectful conversation. Each session invites participants to explore themes of spirituality, identity, and belonging at their own pace, whether they attend regularly or drop in occasionally. For more details visit the DC Center’s website.

Genderqueer DC will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a support group for people who identify outside of the gender binary, whether you’re bigender, agender, genderfluid, or just know that you’re not 100% cis. For more details, visit www.genderqueerdc.org or Facebook.

Wednesday, November 12

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.

“Gay Men Speed Dating” will be at 7 p.m. at Public Bar Live. This is a fresh alternative to speed dating and matchmaking in a relaxed environment. Tickets start at $37 and are available on Eventbrite.

Thursday, November 13

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 Class 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.

OUT & ABOUT

Gala Hispanic Theatre’s Flamenco Festival returns

Gala Hispanic Theater will host the 21st Annual “Fuego Flamenco Festival” from Thursday, Nov. 6 to Saturday, Nov. 22.

The festival will feature American and international artists who will gather in the nation’s capital to celebrate the art of Flamenco. Guests can save 20% on tickets with a festival pass.

The festival kicks off now through Nov. 10 with the D.C. premiere of Crónica de un suceso, created, choreographed and performed by Rafael Ramírez from Spain, accompanied by renowned flamenco singers and musicians. In this new show, Ramírez pays homage to the iconic Spanish Flamenco artist Antonio Gades who paved the way for what Flamenco is today. GALA’s engagement is part of an eight-city tour of the U.S. by Ramírez and company.

The magic continues Nov. 14-16 with the re-staging of the masterpiece Enredo by Flamenco Aparicio Dance Company, a reflection of the dual nature of the human experience, individual and social, which premiered at GALA in 2023.

For more information, visit the theatre’s website.

RAFAEL RAMÍREZ

(Photo by Juan Carlos Toledo)

Astounding ‘LIZZIE’ builds on legendary axe murder tale

Rock musical twist addresses abuse, oppression, queer identity

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Lizzie Borden put Fall River, Mass., on the map. When the 32-year-old, seemingly respectable woman was charged with the axe murder of her father Andrew and stepmother Abby in the summer of 1892, it sent shock waves across the community and far beyond.

In time, the gruesome tale would weave its way into the annals of American crime lore, always remembered through that popular nursery rhyme “Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her father 40 whacks…” Well, you know the rest.

The astoundingly terrific “LIZZIE” (now playing at Keegan Theatre, a short walk from Dupont Circle Metro) builds on the legend. The rock musical with book by Tim Maner, music by Steven Cheslik-deMeyer and Alan Stevens Hewitt, and lyrics by Cheslik-deMeyer and Maner, follows the days leading up to the grisly murders (unseen offstage) through Lizzie’s acquittal, bringing to the fore matters of abuse, oppression, and queer identity.

Shrewdly staged and choreographed by Jennifer J. Hopkins, the show begins with a haunting version of “Forty Whacks (Prologue),” featuring the talented cast of four women who can sing, act, move, and deliver the occasional laugh-out-loud line.

Clearly, frustrated Lizzie (powerfully played by Caroline Graham) and dominant older sister Emma (Sydne Lyon), both unmarried and still at home, are angsty and deeply unhappy. They resent their father for a litany of reasons including his extreme Yankee frugality. While one of the richest men in Fall River, he chooses to live on a sad street and go without indoor plumbing rather than set up housekeeping in posh digs across town. But it’s when they see Andrew’s great fortune slipping away to their stepmother that their fury reaches new heights.

Much of “LIZZIE” takes place at the scene of the crime, the Borden residence – cleverly suggested by scenic designer Josh Sticklin with some clapboard siding, stairways, a bit of period wallpaper and a purposely incongruous, large Borden family coat of arms.

Lighting designer Sage Green, convincingly and evocatively, summons at turns a bona fide rock concert experience, dimly lit parlor, or an intimate setting in a small yard.

And costume designer Logan Benson savvily adds to the atmosphere. Lizzie’s somber dresses with their accurate to the era leg-of-mutton sleeves give way to something altogether glitzier and more revealing after the murders.

There is dialogue, but the Riot Grrrl-inspired work is mostly sung through with punk rock anthems, ballads, and character driven songs. Whether spoken or sung, “LIZZIE” makes no bones about the title character’s guilt while introducing varying levels of collusion among the other women.

A knowing wry smirk from the house maid Bridget (Brigid Wallace Harper) says a lot about the family dy -

namic (“there’s a lock on every door / In every room a prisoner of a long, silent war”) as well as what went down that summer morning at the Borden house.

Lizzie’s secret girlfriend Alice (golden throated Savannah Blackwell) who conveniently lives next door, is besotted and watches her every move. Just after the murders, she saw Lizzie burn a dress in the yard.

The hard driving score is played by a passionate half-dozen strong band led by Marika Countouris. Sometimes, the instruments overpower the amplified singers and a lyric or two is lost, but that’s not so unusual with rock musicals.

At 90 minutes with a leisurely intermission (wellearned by the band and cast, especially Graham as Lizzie who’s onstage throughout, often incorporating frenetic movement and strenuous air guitar into her many songs), the first half explores feelings of entrapment and the second liberation.

Lizzie goes to trial. Despite a shaky alibi, the defendant seems to be winning over the jury. Looks like she might get that grand house on the hill after all.

The Borden story has been shared in varied ways including innumerable books and documentaries, Jack Beeson’s opera “Lizzie Borden” (1965), Agnes de Mille’s ballet “Fall River Legend” (1954), and the memorable 1975 TV movie starring Elizabeth Montgomery (best known as the perky reluctant witch Samantha Stevens on TV’s sitcom “Bewitched”) playing against type.

Today, the legend endures with “LIZZIE” at Keegan.

‘LIZZIE’

Through Nov. 30 | Keegan Theatre 1742 Church St., N.W. | $54-$65 | Keegantheatre.com

CAROLINE GRAHAM and SYDNE LYONS play the Borden sisters in ‘LIZZIE.’ (Photo by Cameron Whitman)

Experience

Spain Flamenco Arts CRÓNICA DE UN SUCESO

Choreographed & performed by Rafael Ramírez THRU NOV 9

Presented by TORCUART AULA DE FLAMENCO

NOV 8, 2 pm - FREE

Flamenco Aparicio Dance Co. ENREDO

Directed by

Edwin Aparicio & Aleksey Kulikov

NOV 14 - 16

Compañía Flamenca Irene Lozano LAS MUJERES QUE HABITAN EN MI

Choreographed & performed by Irene Lozano

NOV 21 - 22

Blockbuster Amy Sherald exhibit opens in Baltimore

By KEVIN NAFF | knaff@washblade.com

Artist Amy Sherald has emerged as a hero in the LGBTQ community following her controversial decision to pull her blockbuster new exhibit “American Sublime” from the National Portrait Gallery in D.C. and move it to Baltimore after Smithsonian officials sought to censor her painting “Trans Forming Liberty.”

That painting depicts transgender model Arewà Basit as the Statue of Liberty, which conflicts with President Trump’s war on DEI and his efforts to erase transgender people from the American narrative.

Sherald issued a statement over the summer that the Smithsonian had “concerns” about the painting. “These concerns led to discussions about removing the work from the exhibition,” Sherald said in the statement. “While no single person is to blame, it is clear that institutional fear shaped by a broader climate of political hostility toward trans lives played a role.”

She said the Smithsonian had proposed including a video in the exhibit that would “contextualize” the paint-

ing and likely include anti-trans views. It was then she announced her decision to pull the exhibit entirely and move it to the Baltimore Museum of Art, a major coup for the museum.

Sherald studied at Baltimore’s Maryland Institute College of Art, which she described as “the best decision I ever made,” during a sold out Q&A on Nov. 2 moderated by the BMA’s director, Asma Naeem. Unfortunately, the subject of censorship and the last-minute decision to move the exhibit to the BMA didn’t come up during the discussion. But Naeem rightly described Sherald as “one of the most important painters of our time.”

“American Sublime,” billed as a mid-career retrospective, features 38 of Sherald’s paintings, including her portraits of former first lady Michelle Obama and Breonna Taylor, along with “Trans Forming Liberty.”

Sherald and Naeem joked throughout the breezy hourlong conversation and reminisced about spending time at MICA and in Baltimore. The artist said she still finds inspiration and even potential portrait subjects in grocery stores and on the streets of Baltimore and New York, where she now lives. Many of the portraits in the exhibit were painted in Baltimore.

Although Sherald and Naeem kept it light and avoided discussing censorship, the one serious and non-negotiable subject Sherald addressed was the paramount importance of integrity. Her insistence on the integrity of the work and the inclusion of trans representation in the exhibit brought her to the difficult decision to pull her work from the Smithsonian. It was a bold and inspiring move in a time when so many public figures, CEOs, and politicians have shown a disappointing and dangerous lack of integrity in the face of an administration that seeks to subvert the Constitution and erode the First Amendment. Sherald stands as a powerful symbol of resistance and, yes, integrity in these dark times. Her refusal to cave to authoritarian impulses and blatant censorship will be remembered for years to come. The nation’s top tech CEOs and congressional leaders should see this exhibit and learn from her brave example.

“American Sublime” is open now through April 5 at the Baltimore Museum of Art and requires a paid ticket for entry. (Admission is free on Thursday evenings and free on Jan. 15 and Feb. 19. The museum is closed Mondays and Tuesdays.) For more information and tickets visit artbma.org.

AMY SHERALD at Sunday’s BMA interview. (Blade photo)

‘Trans Forming Liberty’ by Amy Sherald triggered censorship efforts at the Smithsonian. (Image courtesy Amazon)

Superb direction, performances create a ‘Day’ to remember A rich cinematic tapestry with deep observations about art, life, friendship

By JOHN PAUL KING

According to writer/director Ira Sachs, “Peter Hujar’s Day” is “a film about what it is to be an artist among artists in a city where no one was making any money.” At least, that’s what Sachs – an Indie filmmaker who has been exploring his identities as both a gay and Jewish man onscreen since his 1997 debut effort, “The Delta” – told IndieWire, with tongue no doubt firmly planted in cheek, in an interview last year.

Certainly, money is a concern in his latest effort – which re-enacts a 1974 interview between photographer Peter Hujar (Ben Whishaw) and writer Linda Rosenkrantz (Rebecca Hall), as part of an intended book documenting artists over a single 24-hour period in their lives – and is much on the mind of its titular character as he dutifully (and with meticulous detail) recounts the events of his previous day during the course of the movie. To say it is the whole point, though, is clearly an overstatement. Indeed, hearing discussions today of prices from 1974 – when the notion of paying more than $7 for Chinese takeout in New York City seemed outrageous – might almost be described as little more than comic relief.

Adapted from a real-life interview with Hujar, which Rosenkrantz published as a stand-alone piece in 2021 (her intended book had been abandoned) after a transcript was discovered in the late photographer’s archives, “Peter Hujar’s Day” inevitably delivers insights on its subject – a deeply influential figure in New York culture of the seventies and eighties, who would go on to document the scourge of AIDS until he died from it himself, in 1987. There’s no plot, really, except for the recalled narrative itself, which involves an early meeting with a French journalist who is picking up Hujar’s images of model Lauren Hutton, an afternoon photo shoot with iconic queer “Beat Generation” poet/activist Allen Ginsburg, and an evening of mundane social interaction over the aforementioned Chinese food. Yet it’s through this formalized structure – the agreed-upon relation of a sequence of events, with the thoughts, observations, and reflections that come with them – that the true substance shines through.

In relaying his narrative, Hujar exhibits the kind of uncompromising – and slavishly precise – devotion to detail that also informed his work as a photographer; a mundane chronology of events reveals a universe of thought, perception, and philosophy

of which most of us might be unaware while they were happening. Yet he and Rosenkrantz (at least in Sachs’ reconstruction of their conversation) are both artists who are keenly aware of such things; after all, it’s this glimpse of an “inner life” of which we are rarely cognizant in the moment that was/is their stock-in-trade. It’s the stuff we don’t think of while we’re living our lives – the associations, the judgments, the selective importance with which we assign each aspect of our experiences – that later becomes a window into our souls, if we take the opportunity to look through it. And while the revelations that come may occasionally paint them in a less-than-idealized light (especially Hujar, whose preoccupations with status, reputation, appearances, and yes, money, often emerge as he discusses the encounter with Ginsberg and his other interactions), they never feel like definitive interpretations of character; rather, they’re just fleeting moments among all the others, temporary reflections in the ever-ongoing evolution of a lifetime.

Needless to say, perhaps, “Peter Hujar’s Day” is not the kind of movie that will be a crowd-pleaser for everyone. Like Louis Malle’s equally acclaimed-and-notorious “My Dinner With Andre” from 1981, it’s essentially an action-free narrative comprised entirely of a conversation between two people; nothing really happens, per se, except for what we hear described in Hujar’s description of his day, and even that is more or less devoid of any real dramatic weight. But for those with the taste for such an intellectual exercise, it’s a rich and complex cinematic tapestry that rewards our patience with a trove of deep observations about art, life, and friendship – indeed, while its focus is ostensibly on Hujar’s “day,” the deep and intimate love between he and Rosenkrantz underscores everything that we see, arguably landing with a much deeper resonance than anything that is ever spoken out loud during the course of the film – and never permits our attention to flag for even a moment.

Shooting his movie in a deliberately self-referential style, Sachs weaves the cinematic process of recreating the interview into the recreation itself, bridging mediums and blurring lines of reality to create a filmed meditation that mirrors the inherent artifice of Rosenkrantz’s original concept, yet honors the material’s nearly slavish devotion to the mundane minutiae that makes up daily life, even for artists. This is especially true for both Hujar and Rosenkrantz, whose work hinges so directly to the experience of the moment – in photography, the entire end product is tied to the immediacy of a single, captured fragment of existence, and it is no less so for a writer attempting to create a portrait (of sorts) composed entirely of fleeting words and memories. Such intangibles can often feel remote or even superficial without further reflection, and the fact that Sachs is able to reveal a deeper world beyond that surface speaks volumes to his own abilities as an artist, which he deploys with a sure hand to turn a potentially stagnant 75 minutes of film into something hypnotic.

Of course, he could not accomplish that feat without his actors. Whishaw, who has proven his gifts and versatility in an array of film work including not only “art films” like this one but roles from the voice of Paddington Bear to “Q” in the Daniel Craigled “James Bond” films, delivers a stunning performance, carrying at least 75% of the film’s dialogue with the same kind of casual, in-the-moment authenticity as one might expect at a dinner party with friends; and though Hall has less speaking to do, she makes up for it in sheer presence, lending a palpable sense of respect, love, and adoration to Rosenkrantz’s relationship with Hujar.

In fact, by the time the final credits role, it’s that relationship that arguably leaves the deepest impression on us; though these two people converse about the “hoi polloi” of New York, dropping legendary names and reminding us with every word of their importance in the interwoven cultural landscape of their era, it’s the tangible, intimate friendship they share that sticks with us, and ultimately feels more important than any of the rest of it. For all its trappings of artistic style, form, and retrospective cultural commentary, it’s this simple, deeply human element that seems to matter the most –and that’s why it all works, in the end. None of its insights or observations would land without that simple-but-crucial link to humanity.

Fortunately, its director and stars understand this perfectly, and that’s why “Peter Hujar’s Day” has an appeal that transcends its rarified portrait of time, place, and personality. It recognizes that it’s what can be read between the lines of our lives that matters, and that’s an insight that’s often lost in the whirlwind of our quotidian existence.

REBECCA HALL and BEN WHISHAW star in ‘Peter Hujar’s Day.’

(Image courtesy of Janus films)

A history of lesbian workarounds to build family

Fighting for the right to have and raise kids

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

You don’t have a white picket fence with an adorable gate.

The other parts of the American Dream – the house in the suburbs, a minivan, and a big backyard – may also be beyond your reach. You’ve never wanted the joyous husband-wife union, but the two-point-five kids? Yeah, maybe that’s possible. As in the new book “Radical Family,” edited by Margaret Mooney, it’s surely more so than it was in the past.

Once upon a time, if a lesbian wanted to raise a family, she had two basic options: pregnancy or adoption. That is, says Mooney, if she was willing to buck a hetero-centric society that said the former was “selfish, unnatural and radical” and the latter was often just simply not possible or even legal.

Undaunted, and very much wanting kids, many lesbians ignored the rules. They built “chains” of women who handed off sperm from donor to doctor to potential mother. They demanded that fertility clinics allow single women as customers. They wrote pamphlets and publications aimed to help others become pregnant by themselves or with partners. They carefully sought lesbian-friendly obstetricians and nurses.

Over time, lesbians who wanted kids were “emboldened by the feminist movement and the gay and lesbian rights movement” and did what they had to do, omitted facts when needed, traveled abroad when they could, and found workarounds to build a family.

This book tells nine stories of everyday lesbians who succeeded.

Denise Matyka and Margaret McMurray went to Russia to adopt.

Martha Dixon Popp and Alix Olson raised their family, in part and for awhile in conjunction with Popp’s husband. Gail Hirn learned from an agriculture publication how to inseminate herself. MC Reisdorf literally stood on her head to get pregnant. Mooney says that, like most lesbian parents then, she became a mother “without any safety nets...”

Such “struggles likely will feel familiar as you read about [the] desire to become parents…” says Mooney. “In short, these families are ordinary and extraordinary all at once.”

In her introduction, editor Margaret Mooney points out that the stories in this book generally take place in the latter part of the last century, but that their relevance is in the struggles that could happen tomorrow. There’s urgency in those words, absolutely, and they’re tinged with fear, but don’t let them keep you from “Radical Family.”

What you’ll see inside these nine tales is mostly happy, mostly triumphant – and mostly Wisconsin-centric, though the variety in dream-fulfillment is wide enough that the book is appropriate anywhere. The determination leaps out of the pages here, and the storytellers don’t hide their struggles, not with former partners, bureaucracy, or with roadblocks. Reading this book is like attending a conference and hearing attendees tell their tales. Bonus: photos and advice for any lesbian thinking of parenthood, single or partnered.

If you’re in search of positive stories from lesbian mothers and the wall-busting they did, or if you’ve lived the same tales, this slim book is a joy to read. For you, “Radical Family” may open some gates.

‘Radical Family: Trailblazing

Lesbian Moms Tell Their Stories’

Edited by Margaret Mooney

c.2025, Wisconsin Historical Society Press | $20 | 150 pages

Halloween

Costumed revelers enjoy a spooky night at Kiki, Crush (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

LGBTQ venues Kiki and Crush Dance Bar were packed with costumed partiers on Friday night for Halloween festivities.

How federal layoffs, shutdown threaten D.C.-area landlords

When paychecks disappear, the shock doesn’t stop at the Beltway

By SCOTT BLOOM

When federal paychecks disappear, the shock doesn’t stop at the Beltway. It lands on the doorsteps of the region’s property owners, those who rent out their rowhouses in Petworth, condos in Crystal City, and homes stretching into Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Landlords depend on steady rent from tenants employed by the very institutions that are now downsized or worse, shuttered.

This fall, Washington’s economic identity is being tested once again. Thousands of federal workers who accepted “deferred resignation” packages will soon lose their income altogether. And with a long government shutdown looming, even those still on the payroll face delayed paychecks. For landlords, that combination of uncertainty and sudden income loss threatens to unsettle a rental market already balancing on the edge.

A Test of Resilience

Rosie Allen-Herring, president of United Way of the National Capital Area, recently told The Washington Post, “This region stands to take a hard hit from those who are no longer employed but can’t find new employment and now find themselves in need. It’s a full-circle moment to be a donor and now find yourself in need, but it is very real for this area.” 1 That reversal captures the broader moment: The D.C. economy built on federal paychecks and charitable giving now faces a stress test of compassion and cash flow alike.

For landlords, adaptability will determine who weathers the storm. Those who are able to keep the rent coming in, retain their tenants or find replacement tenants without the same economic hardships are going to be able to get to the other side with manageable financial disruptions. Those who plan, communicate, and stay financially flexible will keep their properties occupied and their reputations intact.

A Region Built on Federal Pay

Roughly one in ten jobs in the Washington metropolitan area is tied directly to the federal government, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number climbs sharply when you include contractors, nonprofits, and think tanks dependent on federal funding.

This concentration means that when the federal government sneezes, D.C.’s housing market catches a cold. The Brookings Institution recently reported that since January, the region’s unemployment rate has climbed eight times faster than the national average, and local job growth has flattened. 1 More anecdotal, I’ve spoken with property owners this year who are looking to rent out the property they own in DC because they have to move to another region for work.

As The Post observed, “The region has shed federal jobs at a higher rate, and both the number of homes for sale and the share of residents with low credit scores have grown more quickly here than the rest of the country.” 1

For landlords, that’s a flashing warning light. When a certain category of tenants with solid compensation lose reliable government salaries and face dim re-employment prospects, rent becomes harder to collect and rent levels can decline year on year.

The Human Side of a Policy Shock

The people behind these statistics are often long-tenured civil servants. The Post profiled former State Depart-

ment employee Brian Naranjo, who said he had “unsuccessfully thrown his résumé at more than 50 positions since resigning in May.” “It’s terrible,” Naranjo told the paper. “You have far more people going for those very specialized jobs than would normally be out there.” 1

Another displaced worker, Jennifer Malenab, a 42-yearold former Department of Homeland Security employee, described canceling daycare and family vacations while she scours job boards. “This is not where you want to be at 42, with a family,” she said. 1

When households like these lose steady pay, not only do they pull back on spending, but if they are renters landlords may see a lag in rent receipts, requests for partial payments, or in some cases, a premature notice to vacate. Some tenants will relocate out of the region altogether — a prospect already visible in rising “for sale” listings and increased moving-truck activity in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland.

What Happens When the Rent Doesn’t Arrive

When rent payments are disrupted, even temporarily, the financial effects can be immediate. Many small landlords depend on rent to cover their mortgages, property taxes, insurance premiums, and routine maintenance. Even a temporary interruption in income can deplete reserves, delay repairs, and strain their ability to meet loan obligations.

Larger multifamily owners are not immune. If multiple tenants in a building lose income at once, cash flow can fall sharply. During the brief 2019 government shutdown, some D.C. landlords offered short-term payment plans to furloughed workers with the expectation of eventual back pay. However, under current conditions, where many positions are being permanently eliminated and paychecks may not be restored, landlords face much greater uncertainty and cannot assume repayment will be guaranteed.

In the District of Columbia, the Rental Housing Commission has advised landlords to continue operating strictly within established legal procedures and to avoid informal or selective payment arrangements that could be interpreted as discriminatory under the D.C. Human Rights Act. Courts in Virginia and Maryland allow temporary continuances when tenants provide documentation of a federal furlough or income disruption, but it is the court, not the landlord, that determines eligibility for relief.

How Landlords Should Proceed 2

• Continue filing nonpayment cases through normal legal channels rather than delaying action.

• Allow the courts to apply any continuance or relief provisions if a tenant qualifies due to federal employment status or income interruption.

• Avoid making selective accommodations based on a tenant’s job type or federal employment status, as this may violate equal-treatment and source-of-income protections.

Landlords with a single tenant or a consistent written policy of offering payment plans to all tenants experiencing verified income disruption should not be at risk of discriminatory treatment.

Vacancy, Concessions, and Shifting Demand

Beyond nonpayment of rent, landlords face a challenge from a different direction: weak demand. As fewer jobs are being created and unemployed or under-employed tenants move out of DC, the supply of available rental units will rise, forcing landlords to compete more aggres-

sively on price and amenities.

Market data already point that direction. The volume of rental listings across the District of Columbia jumped roughly 14 percent year-over-year in September, according to the realtor Multiple Listing Service (MLS) trends, as reported by the Washington Business Journal. Landlords are offering free parking, one-month concessions, or flexible leases to retain quality tenants.

Neighborhoods once buffered by federal stability like Silver Spring, Falls Church, and Alexandria may now see higher tenant turnover. As one Arlington property manager put it, “We used to say federal employees were the safest tenants in America. Now we’re rewriting that rule.”

A Shrinking Workforce, a Softer Market

In addition to the layoffs, the region is contending with a broader identity crisis. “Yesim Sayin, executive director of the D.C. Policy Center, put it bluntly: ‘Beyond federal employment, we relied on tourism. But foreign tourists aren’t coming. And we relied a whole lot on universities bringing talent who would then stay here and be part of our talent pool. And that is kind of gone, too. So what are we now? We just don’t know.’” 1

This uncertainty may impact property values and investor sentiment. When employers relocate, renters follow. If enough mid-career professionals leave, demand for rentals will first soften and then we’ll begin to see a lowering of the average rents a landlord can command for their rental. We have already seen this in the current rental market. Rents that seems reasonable a few years ago, are now being discounted by hundreds of dollars. Landlords who are searching for new renters after several years of having tenants are finding that they need to bring rent levels below where they used to be to secure tenants commitments.

Strategies for Landlords:

Staying Solvent and Supportive

In times like these, survival depends on both prudence and empathy.

1. Communicate early. Encourage tenants to disclose financial hardship before missing payments. Written payment plans, properly documented, can forestall eviction while preserving goodwill.

2. Review legal protections. Understand D.C., Maryland, and Virginia rules regarding furlough continuances or income-source discrimination. Seek legal counsel before altering lease terms mid-cycle.

3. Build reserves and credit access. Line up a home-equity or business line of credit to bridge shortfalls. Cash on hand always is helpful to have as a buffer for the impact of income disruption.

4. Monitor policy developments. State and local governments are supporting people who are affected by the lay-offs. Landlords can benefit indirectly through their renters who are utilizing these programs to assist them in paying their monthly expenses.

5. Contact your Congressional representatives to demand the reopening of the federal government. And in D.C., you do benefit from representation, even though they cannot vote. They can influence decisions that matter.

SCOTT BLOOM

is owner and senior property manager of Columbia Property Management.

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