Washington Blade, Volume 57, Issue 04, January 23, 2026

LGBTQ advocates ready to go on offense after dire first year of Trump’s term, PAGES 12 & 14

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

1down, 3 to go

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VOLUME 57 ISSUE 04 ADDRESS PO Box 60664 Washington DC 20039 PHONE 202-747-2077 E-MAIL news@washblade.com INTERNET washingtonblade.com PUBLISHED BY Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia, Inc. PUBLISHER LYNNE J. BROWN lbrown@washblade.com ext. 8075 EDITORIAL EDITOR KEVIN NAFF knaff@washblade.com ext. 8088 SR. NEWS REPORTER LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com ext. 8079 WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT JOE REBERKENNY jreberkenny@washblade.com ext. 9463 INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITOR MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com ext. 8093 POP CULTURE REPORTER JOHN PAUL KING PHOTO EDITOR MICHAEL KEY mkey@washblade.com ext 8084 CONTRIBUTING WRITERS DANIEL ITAI, ISAAC AMEND, TINASHE CHINGARANDE, PETER ROSENSTEIN, PATRICK FOLLIARD, TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER, JOE PHILLIPS, EVAN CAPLAN, ANKUSH KUMAR, ESTEBAN RIOSECO, SAM KISIKA, ELVIS KAWEDO, DAWN ENNIS CREATIVE DESIGN/PRODUCTION MEAGHAN JUBA production@azercreative.com SALES & ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING STEPHEN RUTGERS srutgers@washblade.com ext. 8077 SR. ACCT. EXECUTIVE BRIAN PITTS bpitts@washblade.com ext. 8089 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION PHILLIP G. ROCKSTROH prockstroh@washblade.com ext. 8092 NATIONAL ADVERTISING RIVENDELL MEDIA 212-242-6863; sales@rivendellmedia.com For distribution, contact Lynne Brown at 202-747-2077, ext. 8075.

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Spanberger sworn in as Va. governor Abigail Spanberger was sworn in as the 75th governor of Virginia at a ceremony on the grounds of the Virginia State Capitol last Saturday. Thousands of spectators watched the swearing-in ceremony and parade, despite the rain and temperatures in the low 40s.

Spanberger, a member of the Democratic Party and an LGBTQ ally, became the first woman to be Virginia’s governor.

Republican former Gov. Glenn Youngkin left the ceremony shortly after the oath of office was administered to Spanberger and before the inaugural address.

In her speech, the new governor made an appeal to bipartisanship and looking past division in our current moment.

“To my friends in the General Assembly — on both sides of the aisle — I look forward to working with you,” said Spanberger. “I know what it means to represent your constituents, to work hard for your district, and to pursue policies you believe in. We will not agree on everything, but I speak from personal experience when I say that we do not have to see eye-to-eye on every issue in order to stand shoulder-to-shoulder on others.”

Spanberger acknowledged Virginians’ frustrations with federal layoffs and governmental policy.

“I know many of you are worried about

the recklessness coming out of Washington. You are worried about policies that are hurting our communities — cutting healthcare access, imperiling rural hospitals, and driving up costs,” said Spanberger. “You are worried about Washington policies that are closing off markets, hurting innovation and private industry, and attacking those who have devoted their lives to public service.”

Virginia Gov. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER gives her inaugural address outside of the Virginia State Capitol on Jan. 17. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Spanberger alluded to the Trump administration, though never mentioned President Donald Trump’s name in her remarks.

Spanberger said, “you are worried about an administration that is gilding buildings while schools crumble, breaking the social safety net, and sowing fear across our communities, betraying the values of who we

are as Americans, the very values we celebrate here on these steps.”

The new governor then spoke of her priorities in office, pledging to tackle housing affordability by working to “cut red tape” and increase housing supply. Spanberger also spoke of forestalling an impending healthcare crisis by protecting access and cracking down on “middlemen who are driving up drug prices.”

Spanberger spoke of investments in education at every level, standing up for workers (including the large number of federal workers in Virginia), and taking action on gun violence.

Virginia married couple Mary Townley and Carol Schall witnessed the inauguration ceremony from the stands set up on the grounds of the Capitol. Schall and Townley are one of the plaintiff couples in the case that challenged the Virginia constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Virginia in 2014.

“We are delighted with the inauguration of Abigail Spanberger as governor of Virginia,” Schall told the Washington Blade.

“The celebration of her inauguration was full of the beautiful diversity that is Virginia.

The Virginia Pride contingent was included as a part of what makes Virginia a great place to live.”

“Such an honor to attend such a wonderful event in Virginia history,” Townley told the Blade. “The weather before the Inauguration was cold and rainy, but I believe it represented the end of a dreary time and it ushered in the dry and sunny weather by the end of the inaugural parade. Madam Governor brought us to the light!”

The inaugural parade following the governor’s remarks included a contingent from Diversity Richmond and Virginia Pride.

Marchers in the LGBTQ contingent carried a giant Progress Pride flag and were met with loud cheers from the gathered spectators.

Spanberger after her inauguration signed 10 executive orders. One of them bans discrimination against state employees based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and other factors.

“By virtue of the authority vested in me as Governor under Article V of the Constitution of Virginia, I hereby declare that it is the firm and unwavering policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia to ensure equal opportunity in all facets of state government,” reads the executive order. “The foundational tenet of this executive order is premised upon a steadfast commitment to foster a culture of inclusion, diversity, and mutual respect for all Virginians.”

MICHAEL KEY

McPike prevails in ‘firehouse’ Dem primary for Va. House of Delegates Gay Alexandria Council member expected to win 5th District seat

Gay Alexandria City Council member Kirk McPike emerged as the clearcut winner in a hastily called Jan. 20 “firehouse” Democratic primary for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates representing Alexandria.

McPike, who was one of two gay candidates running in the four-candidate primary, received 1,279 votes or 60.5 percent, far ahead of gay public school teacher Gregory Darrall, a political newcomer who received 60 votes or 3 percent.

Former Alexandria City School Board member Eileen Cassidy Rivera came in second place with 508 votes or 24 percent and Northern Virginia criminal law defense attorney Chris Leibig finished in third place with 265 votes or 12.5 percent.

Each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBTQ-related issues.

With less than a week’s notice, Democratic Party officials in Alexandria called the primary to select a Democratic nominee to run in the Feb. 10 special election to fill the 5th District House of Delegates seat being vacated by state Del. Elizabeth Bennett-Parker (D-Alexandria).

Bennett-Parker won the Democratic nomination for the Virginia State Senate seat being vacated by gay state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria), who is resigning from his seat to take a position in the administration of Democratic Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, who took office on Jan. 17.

Bennett-Parker won the nomination for Ebbin’s state Senate seat in yet another firehouse primary on Jan. 13 in which she defeated three other candidates, including gay former state Del. Mark Levine.

McPike, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate, first won election to the Alexandria City Council in 2021. He has served for 13 years as chief of staff for gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and has remained in that position during his tenure on the Alexandria Council. He told the Washington Blade he will continue as chief of staff until next month, when he will resign from that position before taking office in the House of Delegates.

He received the endorsement of Ebbin, U.S. Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), and the LGBTQ Victory Fund in his race for the 5th Dis-

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trict Va. House seat. Being an overwhelmingly Democratic district, virtually all political observers expect McPike to win the Feb. 10 special election.

He will be running against Republican nominee Mason Butler, a local business executive who emerged as the only GOP candidate running for the delegate seat.

“Thank you to the voters of Alexandria for choosing me as the Democratic nominee in the House of Delegates District 5,” McPike said in a statement released shortly after the vote count was completed. “It is an incredible honor to have the opportunity to fight for our community and its values in Richmond,” he said.

“I look forward to continuing to work to address our housing crisis, the challenge of climate change, and the damaging impacts of the Trump administration on the immigrant families, LGBTQ+ Virginians, and federal employees who call Alexandria home,” he stated.

He praised Ebbin for his longstanding support for the LGBTQ community in the Virginia Legislature and added, “If elected

Alexandria City Council member KIRK MCPIKE (Photo courtesy Alexandria City Council)

to the House of Delegates in the Feb. 10 general election, I will continue to fight to protect the rights and freedoms of LGBTQ+ Virginians from my new position in Richmond.”

Gay candidate Darrall’s campaign website said he is a “proud progressive, lifelong educator, and labor leader running to put people first.” It says he is a political newcomer “with more than 20 years in the classroom” as a teacher who played a key role in the successful unionization of Fairfax Public Schools.

“He is a proud member and staunch supporter of the LGBTQIA+ community,” his website statement said.

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Sold-out crowd turns out for 10th annual Caps Pride night Gay Men’s Chorus soloist sings National Anthem, draws cheers

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com A sold-out crowd of 18,347 turned out on Jan. 17 for the 10th annual Pride Night at the Washington Capitals hockey game held at D.C.’s Capital One Arena.

Although LGBTQ Capitals fans were disappointed that the Capitals lost the game to the visiting Florida Panthers, they were treated to a night of celebration with Pride-related videos showing supportive Capitals players and fans projected on the arena’s giant video screen throughout the game.

The game began when Dana Nearing, a member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, sang the National Anthem, drawing applause from all attendees.

The event also served as a fundraiser for the LGBTQ groups Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services to homeless LGBTQ youth, and You Can Play, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing LGBTQ inclusion in sports.

“Amid the queer community’s growing love affair with hockey, I’m incredibly

Va. Senate approves measure to repeal marriage amendment The Virginia Senate on Friday by a 2613 vote margin approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

Outgoing state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced SJ3. The Senate Privileges and Elections Committee on Wednesday approved it by a 10-4 vote margin.

Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014. Outgoing Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2024 signed a bill that codified marriage equality in state law.

A resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amendment passed in the General Assembly in 2021. The resolution passed again in 2025.

Two successive legislatures must approve the resolution before it can go to the ballot. Democrats in the Virginia House of Delegates have said the resolution’s passage is among their 2026 legislative priorities.

“It’s time for Virginia’s Constitution to reflect the law of the land and the values of today,” said Ebbin after Friday’s vote.

“This amendment, if approved by voters, would affirm the dignity of all committed couples and protects marriage equality for future generations.”

FROM STAFF REPORTS

honored and proud to see our hometown Capitals continue to celebrate queer joy in such a visible and meaningful way,” said Alston Foundation Executive Director Cesar Toledo.

A sold-out crowd of 18,347 turned out on Jan. 17 for the 10th annual Pride Night at the Washington Capitals.

(Washington Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)

Capitals spokesperson Nick Grossman said a fundraising raffle held during the game raised $14,760 for You Can Play. He said a fundraising auction for the Alston

Foundation organized by the Capitals and its related Monumental Sports and Entertainment Foundation would continue until Thursday, Jan. 22 A statement on the Capitals website says among the items being sold in the auction were autographed Capitals player hockey sticks with rainbow-colored Pride tape wrapped around them, which Capitals players used in their pre-game practice on the ice.

Although several hundred people turned out for a pre-game Pride “block party” at the District E restaurant and bar located next to the Capital One Arena, it couldn’t immediately be determined how many Pride night special tickets for the game were sold.

“While we don’t disclose specific figures related to special ticket offers, we were proud to host our 10th Pride night and celebrate the LGBTQ+ community,” Capitals spokesperson Grossman told the Washington Blade.

U.S. Sen. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-Md.) speaks at the ‘ICE Out for Good’ rally in D.C. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Van Hollen speaks at ‘ICE Out for Good’ protest U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is among those who spoke at an “ICE Out for Good” protest that took place outside U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s headquarters in D.C. on Tuesday.

The protest took place six days after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old woman in Minneapolis.

Good left behind her wife and three children.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Comings & Goings

Gill named development manager at HIPS

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements.

Please share your successes with us at comingsandgoings@washblade.com.

The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ+ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.

Congratulations to R. Warren Gill III, M.Div., M.A. on being appointed as the development manager at HIPS. Upon his appointment, Gill said, “For as long as I’ve lived in Washington, D.C., I’ve followed and admired the life-saving work HIPS does in our communities.

I’m proud to join the staff and help strengthen the financial support that sustains this work.”

Gill will lead fundraising strategy, donor engagement, and institution-

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WARREN GILL

al partnerships. HIPS promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted by sexual exchange and/or drug use due to choice, coercion, or circumstance.

HIPS provides compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement that is respectful, non-judgmental, and affirms and honors individual power and agency.

Gill has built a career at the intersection of progressive politics, advocacy, and nonprofit leadership. Previously he served as director of communications at AIDS United, supporting national efforts to end the HIV epidemic. Prior to that he

had roles including; being press secretary for Sen. Bernie Sanders during the 2016 presidential primary, and working with the General Board of Church and Society, the United Methodist Church, the denomination’s social justice and advocacy arm.

Gill earned his bachelor’s degree in philosophy and religious studies, Jewish Studies, Stockton University; his master’s degree in political communication from American University, where his graduate research focused on values-based messaging and cognitive linguistics; and his master of Divinity degree from the Pacific School of Religion.

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All that’s been lost for LGBTQ Americans in Trump’s first year

White House has attacked queer community since Inauguration Day

By NICO DiALESSANDRO

One year ago this week, Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States for the second time. Since then, he and his administration have waged an all-out attack on the LGBTQ community by slashing crucial health and support programs, pressuring states to exclude transgender people from most aspects of life and erasing information about the community’s history. Here are all the biggest moves Trump has made against LGBTQ rights over the last 365 days.

Jan. 20, 2025 – Trump’s second first day During his inaugural address, Trump says, “As of today, it will henceforth be the official policy of the United States government that there are only two genders: male and female.” Later that day, Trump signs “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” an executive order that defines “sex” in federal law to mean biological sex at conception. It also eliminates federal recognition of trans identities, blocks gender self-identification on federal documents, ceases federal funding for gender-affirming care and restricts trans people’s access to bathrooms, prisons, shelters and other government facilities that match their gender identity.

Trump also signs “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” an executive order that orders federal agencies to terminate Diversity, Equity and Inclusion mandates, policies and programs. This order repeals a policy put in place by the Biden administration that created initiatives for the federal government to combat systemic barriers related to hiring on the basis of race, religion, income, gender identity, sexual orientation, and disability.

“We’re the party of common sense, you know, we don’t want to have men playing in women’s sports. We don’t want to have transgender operations for everyone,” Trump says at the Liberty Ball party that evening. Trump would go on to repeat the sentiment countless times throughout the year, including at press conferences with world leaders, in an interview with 60 Minutes and even while deploying the National Guard in Washington.

Jan. 21, 2025 – Flurry of executive orders continues Trump signs “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity,” another executive order that revokes a 1965 order which mandated affirmative action for federal contractors and required that they take steps to comply with nondiscrimination laws. The order violates the U.S.

Supreme Court’s 2020 decision in Bostock v. Clayton County, which extended Title VII sex-based protections to trans people.

Nearly all LGBTQ- and HIV-focused content and resources are deleted from the White House’s website including the White House’s equity report, information about LGBTQ Pride Month and a fact sheet on expanding access to HIV prevention and treatment. In addition, the State Department removes its LGBTQ rights page, and the Department of Labor removes its LGBTQ workers page.

Jan. 28, 2025 – funding cuts Trump signs “Protecting Children from Chemical and Surgical Mutilation,” an executive order that bars federal funding for gender-affirming care for minors and directs the Department of Health and Human Services to restrict insurance coverage for such treatments under Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Hours after Trump signs the order, Uncloseted Media speaks with six LGBTQ kids to get their thoughts.

“For me, it’s definitely very frightening.

Especially because right now I’m 16, and so, I’m going to become an adult over the course of his presidency. … And it’s really difficult, especially to plan for the future and have that lack of surety that I thought that I would,” Crow, who lives in Virginia, told Uncloseted Media.

Feb. 3, 2025 Mentions of LGBTQ people are erased or minimized across federal government websites, with a particular focus on trans and intersex people. The State Department first removes trans people in its travel safety guidelines, only mentioning the “LGB” community. As of publication, the web page has no mention of bisexual travelers either.

Feb. 5, 2025 Trump signs “Keeping Men Out of Women’s Sports,” an executive order that prohibits trans women and girls from competing on collegiate female sports teams.

Feb. 13, 2025 Under the direction of Trump’s executive order, the National Park Service removes references to trans and queer rights and history, including from the Stonewall National Monument pages. The “TQ” from “LGBTQ” is dropped in instances where the acronym is present. Protesters gather at the Stonewall National Monument in New York the next day to voice their outrage.

In an interview with Uncloseted Media, Stacy Lentz, co-owner of the Stonewall Inn, calls the removal a blatant attempt to rewrite history and exclude the very people who led the fight for equality.

Feb. 14, 2025

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The U.S. withdraws from the United Nations LGBTI Core Group, which formed in 2008 and pledges to support LGBTQ and intersex rights by “work[ing] within the United Nations framework on ensuring universal respect for the human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, specifically lesbian, gay bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) persons, with a particular focus on protection from violence and discrimination.”

March 15, 2025 – Illegal deportations The Trump-Vance administration deports 238 Venezuelan migrants to CECOT, a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. The administration claims these individuals are affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang. Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist seeking asylum, is one of the migrants with no criminal record. Hernández vanished from U.S. custody before his asylum hearing, and his lawyer asserts he was deported without due process.

On July 18, Hernández is returned to Venezuela along with 249 other migrants.

The Department of Homeland Security dismisses abuse allegations of torture, sexual assault and other inhumane treatment.

April 2, 2025 U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updates its policy to recognize only two biological sexes, male and female, for immigration benefit requests and official documentation. This policy shift reverses previous efforts to accommodate nonbinary and trans individuals, as it removes the “X” gender marker option from immigration forms.

“By denying trans people the right to self-select their gender, the government is making it harder for them to exist safely and with dignity. This is not about ‘common sense’ — it is about erasing an entire community from the legal landscape,” says Bridget Crawford, director of law and policy at Immigration Equality.

April 3, 2025 In his first few months in office, Trump and his administration cancel over 270 National Institutes of Health grants focused on LGBTQ health, totaling at least $125 million in unspent funds. The cancellations disrupt research on HIV testing and prevention, AIDS, cancer, mental health and more.

The cuts scrap more than $800 million worth of research into the health of LGBTQ people. The cuts abandon studies of cancers and viruses and set back efforts to defeat a resurgence of sexually transmitted infections. They also eliminate swaths of medical research on diseases that disproportionately afflict LGBTQ people, including HIV/AIDs, various sexually transmitted infections and cancers.

President DONALD TRUMP took office for a second time on Jan. 20, 2025.

(Screen capture via Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies/YouTube)

June 2, 2025 Stanford begins suspending gender-affirming care for people younger than 19 in response to Trump’s executive order. Other major health networks and many regional centers across the country begin following suit.

Children’s Hospital Los Angeles announces they will be cutting off care for patients as old as 25 beginning in July, stating that they were left with “no viable alternative” because they could not risk any cuts to their federal funding.

June 6, 2025 Trump’s military ban begins, disallowing trans people from serving in all branches of the armed forces and removing those currently in the service. Those who do not identify themselves will have their medical records surveyed and be involuntarily separated if it is discovered that they are trans.

July 1, 2025 Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is passed by Congress. The sweeping package of tax breaks that largely benefit the wealthy include major funding cuts to LGBTQ health care as well as a number of support programs that disproportionately serve queer people.

July 17, 2025 The Trump-Vance administration officially shuts down the LGBTQ-specific option on the 988 youth suicide hotline. This comes a year after data finds that 41 percent of LGBTQ youth seriously considered suicide.

Notably, there are no plans to shut down the other targeted hotline options. Arden, who called when they were 16, told Uncloseted Media, “If it weren’t for the hotline, I would have killed myself.”

Aug. 4, 2025 U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests 40-year-old asylum seeker Rickardo Anthony Kelly during a routine immigration appointment. Kelly, who survived being shot 10 times in Jamaica by attackers who targeted him for being gay, is released two weeks later and describes the conditions of the ICE facility as “unconscionable,” “inhumane,” and “horrific.”

Aug. 12, 2025 The State Department releases a revised 2024 human rights report that omits references to LGBTQ people and erases mentions of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The report also removes critiques of governments for CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

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LGBTQ progress faltering as Trump enters year two: HRC New polling shows negative impacts in visibility, healthcare, more

By JOE REBERKENNY | jreberkenny@washblade.com As President Donald Trump begins the second year of his second term, LGBTQ advocacy organizations say they are shifting into a more aggressive posture — armed with new data that shows how quickly hardwon progress is eroding under the TrumpVance administration.

The Human Rights Campaign hosted its 2026 Election Strategy Kick-Off meeting last week at the National Press Club in Washington, where leaders shared fresh polling data detailing how Trump’s first year back in office has affected LGBTQ Americans — and how pro-equality candidates can respond heading into the midterms.

HRC President Kelley Robinson hosted the event, joined by MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Reproductive Freedom For All President Mini Timmaraju, and Joey Teitelbaum of Global Strategy Group. Together,

they laid out what they described as a dire political and cultural moment for LGBTQ people — and the concrete steps campaigns must take to counter a surge of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and policy coming from the GOP. “The emergency that we warned about is no longer a warning — it is the reality that we are living inside,” Robinson said. “Donald Trump may not have started this fire, but he surely poured gasoline on it.”

New data collected by HRC and Democratic pollsters at Global Strategy Group (GSG) paints a grim picture of life for LGBTQ Americans in Trump-era America — particularly when it comes to visibility, safety, and economic security.

One of the clearest trends from the survey is a decline in perceived acceptance.

The data found that 21.6% of all U.S. adults

say acceptance of LGBTQ+ people has declined in the past year. Among LGBTQ+ adults themselves, that number jumps to 29.7%.

That erosion of acceptance is translating into tangible changes in behavior. Nearly half of LGBTQ+ adults surveyed — 47.5% — reported being less out in at least one area of their lives over the past 12 months, at least in part due to cultural shifts or executive actions taken by the Trump-Vance administration.

The survey found that 26.5% of LGBTQ+ people are less out at work than they used to be, 25.4% are less out in healthcare settings, and 28.3% feel less out in public spaces. While the choice to be out varies by person and circumstance, researchers note that higher levels of being openly LGBTQ — particularly when safety is assured — have

historically been linked to greater societal acceptance.

Visibility is slipping even more broadly.

More than half of LGBTQ+ adults — 51.1% — say they are less visible than they were a year ago. Among LGBTQ+ parents with school-aged children, 40.1% reported being less visible at their children’s schools — the highest rate of retreat in any measured environment.

“Nearly half of LGBTQ+ people say they are less out than they were just a year ago,” Robinson said. “Visibility — something we fought generations to build — is slipping before our very eyes.”

Capehart emphasized that these numbers have real-world consequences beyond personal identity.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

A challenging year for LGBTQ Americans mistreating LGBTQ communities.

It excludes information about Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ laws that encourage citizens to report their LGBTQ neighbors and that ban depictions of homosexuality or gender transition in schools or the media.

Aug. 15, 2025 The Trump-Vance administration announces plans to eliminate gender-affirming care from the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program starting in 2026. The policy would also block access to hormones and surgeries for federal workers and their families.

Aug. 20, 2025 The media reports on court filings that reveal that the Justice Department issued subpoenas to hospitals for private medical records of LGBTQ patients 18 and younger.

The DOJ requests billing data, communication with drug manufacturers, Social Security numbers and recordings from providers who treat gender nonconforming minors.

Doctors across the country report threats and fear government retaliation.

“The subpoena is a breathtakingly invasive government overreach. … It’s specifically and strategically designed to intimidate health care providers and health care institutions into abandoning their patients,” says Jennifer L. Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights at GLAD law, an LGBTQ legal group and civil rights organization.

Sept. 4, 2025 In response to a mass shooting in Minneapolis that was carried out by a trans woman, CNN reports that the DOJ is considering restricting trans Americans’ Second Amendment rights. The department aims

to justify a firearm ban by declaring trans people mentally “defective,” building off of Trump’s trans military ban. The proposal sparks backlash from the National Rifle Association, who says in a statement that they will not “support … gun bans that arbitrarily strip law-abiding citizens of their Second Amendment rights.”

Sept. 12, 2025 The DOJ removes a study from its website showing that far-right extremists have killed more Americans than any other domestic terrorist group. The archived report disappears two days after anti-LGBTQ conservative activist Charlie Kirk is assassinated.

Sept. 22, 2025 White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claims the administration is investigating why trans people are turning to “domestic terrorism,” despite no evidence of this. She calls anyone denying the false link “willfully ignorant,” despite the most recent data available from 2018 showing that trans people are four times more likely to be victims of violent crime when compared to cisgender people.

Sept. 23, 2025 Trump cancels a budget meeting and blames a potential government shutdown on Democrats’ support for trans-inclusive policies.

Oct. 1, 2025 FBI Director Kash Patel fires a trainee for displaying a Pride flag on his desk, labeling it an improper “political” message. The dismissal follows reports that pro-Trump appointees are combing internal FBI files to identify LGBTQ employees.

Oct. 3, 2025 Education Secretary Linda McMahon

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sends a nine-page proposal to nine universities that asks for a commitment to ban trans-inclusive facilities, define sex by “reproductive function” and limit race, gender or identity factors in admissions. The proposal calls for schools to revise their governance structures by “abolishing institutional units that purposefully punish, belittle, and even spark violence against conservative ideas.”

Oct. 10, 2025 The White House lays off more than 1,100 HHS employees. The Office of Population Affairs, which administered Title X family-planning networks, teen pregnancy prevention and LGBTQ health initiatives, is eliminated.

Nov. 6, 2025 The Supreme Court grants the TrumpVance administration’s request to put a hold on federal rulings in Massachusetts, affecting trans and nonbinary people by preventing them from self-identifying correctly on their IDs, claiming to be in line with Trump’s “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” executive order. In her dissent, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson writes, “This court has once again paved the way for the immediate infliction of injury without adequate (or, really, any) justification. Because I cannot acquiesce to this pointless but painful perversion of our equitable discretion, I respectfully dissent.”

Dec. 4, 2025 According to a memo obtained by NPR, the DOJ instructs inspectors to stop evaluating prisons and jails using standards designed to protect trans, intersex, and gender nonconforming people from sexual

violence. This is in direct violation of the Prison Rape Elimination Act. Dec. 18, 2025 HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mehmet Oz, who leads Medicaid and Medicare, announce that HHS is heavily restricting trans health care; prohibiting Medicaid reimbursement for gender-affirming care for people under 18; and blocking all Medicare and Medicaid funding for hospitals that provide the care to minors.

Jan. 1, 2026 The Office of Personnel Management institutes policy changes that exclude coverage for “chemical and surgical” gender-affirming care in the FEHB and Postal Service Health Benefits plans for 2026, with narrow exceptions.

Jan. 7, 2026 Renee Good is shot and killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross in Minneapolis. Good leaves behind a wife, Becca, and three children. In a statement, Becca remembers her wife: “Renee lived by an overarching belief: there is kindness in the world and we need to do everything we can to find it where it resides and nurture it where it needs to grow. Renee was a Christian who knew that all religions teach the same essential truth: we are here to love each other, care for each other, and keep each other safe and whole.”

Days later, Trump tells reporters, “At a very minimum, that woman was very, very disrespectful to law enforcement. … It was highly disrespectful of law enforcement.

The woman and her friend were highly disrespectful of law enforcement.”

(Additional reporting by Hope Pisoni.

Courtesy Uncloseted Media)

JA NUA RY 2 3 , 2 0 2 6 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 3

Trump has ‘dismantled’ U.S. foreign policy infrastructure Jessica Stern, the former special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ and intersex rights, on the President DONALD TRUMP took office on eve of the first Jan. 20, 2025. anniversary (Public domain photo courtesy of the White House’s X page) of the TrumpVance administration said its foreign policy has “hurt people” around the world.

“The changes that they are making will take a long time to overturn and recover from,” she said on Jan. 14 during a virtual press conference the Alliance for Diplomacy and Justice, a group she co-founded, co-organized.

Amnesty International USA National Director of Government Relations and Advocacy Amanda Klasing, Human Rights Watch Deputy Washington Director Nicole Widdersheim, Human Rights First President Uzra Zeya, PEN America’s Jonathan Friedman, and Center for Reproductive Rights Senior Federal Policy Council Liz McCaman Taylor also participated in the press conference.

The Trump-Vance administration took office on Jan. 20, 2025.

The White House proceeded to dismantle the U.S. Agency for International Development, which funded LGBTQ and intersex rights organizations around the world.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio last March announced the State Department would administer the 17 percent of USAID contracts that had not been cancelled. Rubio issued a waiver that allowed PEPFAR and other “life-saving humanitarian assistance” programs to continue to operate during the U.S. foreign aid freeze the White House announced shortly after it took office.

The global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement has lost more than an estimated $50 million in funding because of the cuts.

The Washington Blade has previously reported PEPFAR-funded programs in Kenya and other African countries have been forced to suspend services and even shut down.

Stern noted the State Department “has dismantled key parts of foreign policy infrastructure that enabled the United States to support democracy and human rights abroad” and its Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor “has effectively been dismantled.”

She also pointed out her former position and others — the Special Representative for Racial Equity and Justice, the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues, and the Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice — “have all been eliminated.”

President Donald Trump on Jan. 7 issued a memorandum that said the U.S. will withdraw from the U.N. Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and more than 60 other U.N. and international entities.

Rubio in a Jan. 10 Substack post said UN Women failed “to define what a woman is.”

“At a time when we desperately need to support women — all women — this is yet another example of the weaponization of transgender people by the Trump administration,” said Stern.

The Jan. 14 press conference took place a week after a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent killed Renee Good, a 37-year-old woman who left behind her wife and three children, in Minneapolis. American forces on Jan. 3 seized now former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their home in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, during an overnight operation. Trump also continues to insist the

U.S. needs to gain control of Greenland.

Widdersheim during the press conference noted the Trump-Vance administration last March sent 252 Venezuelans to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, a maximum-security prison known by the Spanish acronym CECOT. One of them, Andry Hernández Romero, is a gay asylum seeker who the White House claimed was a member of Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang the Trump-Vance administration has designated as an “international terrorist organization.” Hernández upon his return to Venezuela last July said he suffered physical, sexual, and psychological abuse while at CECOT. “In 2025 … the United States is conducting enforced disappearances,” said Widdersheim.

Zeya, who was Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights from 2021-2025, in response to the Blade’s question during the press conference said her group and other advocacy organizations have “got to keep doubling down in defense of the rule of law, to hold this administration to account.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12

Polling shows Trump’s dire impact on LGBTQ Americans “Half the community retreating back into the closet is distressing, but understandable in these times,” Capehart said. “The danger is when people disappear from public life, because it becomes easier to ignore their suffering.”

Decades of research from organizations such as Gallup and PRRI have consistently shown that increased visibility correlates with greater public support for LGBTQ+ rights.

When people personally know someone who is LGBTQ+, they are significantly more likely to support equality — creating what advocates describe as a positive feedback loop. The new data suggests that loop is now reversing.

Despite the cultural retrenchment reflected in the data, GSG’s findings also offer a clear political opening for candidates who run unapologetically on equality — particularly in competitive districts.

According to the polling, voters in battleground and purple districts “overwhelmingly support” nondiscrimination protections and LGBTQ equality. These voters, the data show, are deeply wary of politicians inserting themselves into people’s personal lives while failing to address urgent issues like the cost of living, healthcare, and public safety — especially when those intrusions target transgender people.

Teitelbaum, GSG’s senior vice president for research, said the polling makes clear that Republican messaging on transgender issues is far out of step with the electorate.

“In no state have we ever seen more than

18% of voters say being transgender should be illegal,” Teitelbaum said. “That means more than 80% of Americans are not where Republicans are — and that gives us room to go on offense.”

HRC President KELLEY ROBINSON speaking at the 2025 National Dinner.

(Blade photo by Michael Key)

HRC leaders pointed to the recent Virginia gubernatorial race as a case study in how candidates can successfully navigate anti-trans attacks. Democratic Gov.-elect Abigail Spanberger faced a barrage of anti-trans messaging from her opponent, yet refused to cede ground on equality — instead redirecting her campaign toward economic concerns and quality-of-life issues.

“Look at Virginia and the good governor that’s about to be inaugurated, Abigail Spanberger,” Robinson said. “She faced a flood of anti-trans attacks. More than half of her opponent’s ad budget was spent trying to divide and mislead voters, but she didn’t flinch.

She stood her ground, and voters rewarded

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her by a win of over 15 points in Virginia.”

Beyond cultural shifts, the survey shows that the administration’s policies are having measurable economic and health impacts on LGBTQ Americans.

LGBTQ+ adults are twice as likely as nonLGBTQ+ adults to say their financial situation has worsened over the past year. Advocates pointed specifically to the administration’s hardline rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as a key driver of workplace hostility. Among LGBTQ+ workers whose employers ended or scaled back DEI programs, 57.4% reported experiencing stigma or bias at work.

Healthcare access is also deteriorating — not only due to Trump’s aggressive push against gender-affirming care, but across other critical areas as well. Access to HIV prevention and treatment has become significantly more difficult. LGBTQ+ adults on Medicare or Medicaid are more than twice as likely to report barriers to HIV care compared to those with other forms of insurance.

Among LGBTQ+ adults earning less than $75,000 per year, 41.5% reported difficulty accessing HIV prevention or treatment.

“Since Donald Trump returned to office, LGBTQ+ Americans are worse off in every area this survey measures than we were one year ago,” Robinson said. “We are less visible, less safe, and less economically secure.”

In response, HRC is urging more pro-equality candidates to run — and to do so strategically. The organization outlined a campaign playbook designed to help can-

didates define themselves early, counter anti-trans attacks, and proactively promote their values rather than playing defense.

The framework centers on five core pillars: 1. Share your story before attacks come 2. Lead with your values 3. Address concerns directly 4. Turn the tables and gain voters 5. Go big U.S. Rep. Julie Johnson of Texas joined the meeting virtually, echoing the call for more openly pro-LGBTQ leadership in Congress.

“They’re banking that the politics of hate and division can distract voters from their failure to address soaring health care costs, high grocery bills, and the scourge of gun violence — and we cannot let them win,” Johnson said. “The answer is not to hide or stay silent. The answer is to be prepared.”

Johnson, the first out LGBTQ member of Congress from the South, said real change in Washington begins with elections.

“We need to flip the House to a pro-equality majority that will focus on the needs of all Americans, without exception,” she said.

“With HRC’s help, candidates like me can go on offense and lean into our values, because the American people want real leadership, full equality, and a commitment to freedom.”

Robinson closed the event with a blunt assessment of the moment ahead.

“This is a different United States of America than it was just months ago,” she said.

“Preserving democracy and protecting LGBTQ lives both require the same thing: winning power and refusing to back down.”

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JA NUA RY 2 3 , 2 0 2 6 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 5

KEVIN NAFF

is editor of the Washington Blade.

Reach him at knaff@washblade.com

Media obsess over ‘Heated Rivalry’ sex but ignore problem of homophobia in sports 4 major men’s leagues lack gay representation 13 years after Jason Collins came out

The mainstream media are agog over “Heated Rivalry,” the surprise hit HBO Max limited series about two professional hockey players who fall in love.

The show’s stars, Connor Storrie (Ilya) and Hudson Williams (Shane), are everywhere — red carpets, award shows, morning news and late night shows. Female fans lined up for hours to catch a glimpse of Storrie, who appeared on the “Today” show last week.

The interviews and coverage predictably involve lots of innuendo and snickering about the graphic sex scenes in the show. Storrie and Williams have played coy about their real-life sexual orientation, a subject of debate among some gay fans who would prefer they own their sexuality if, in fact, they are gay.

But the big issue ignored by the media that the show tackles is the crippling effect of homophobia and the closet — not just on professional athletes but on anyone who isn’t comfortable being out at work. And it’s a growing problem given the hostile Trump administration.

Attacks on LGBTQ people and the roll back of DEI and related protections are driving many Americans back into the closet, especially in D.C.’s large federal workforce.

And the mainstream media seem totally unaware that there has never been an openly gay NHL player. Hell, there’s never even been a retired NHL player who came out.

It’s a sad fact that I would not have predicted 13 years ago when Jason Collins bravely came out publicly while playing in the NBA, the first male athlete in the big four U.S. sports to do so. His announcement was widely covered in the mainstream media and Collins was even named to Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People” list in 2014.

Then in February 2014, Michael Sam became the first openly gay player to be drafted into the NFL. He was released before the season began and did not play.

But still, Sam’s decision to come out was

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celebrated. It felt like professional male sports was changing and finally shaking off its ingrained homophobia. Many of us awaited a flood of young professional athletes coming out publicly. And we waited. And waited. Then, seven years later, in June 2021, Carl Nassib came out, becoming the first active NFL player to do so. He was with the Las Vegas Raiders at the time and also became the first out player to play in the playoffs. He was released in the offseason and picked up by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2022 and retired the following year.

And that is the short history of out professional male athletes in the big four U.S. sports. (Women’s sports is a different story with many examples of out lesbian and bi players.)

Sure, some pro athletes have come out after retiring, most notably Billy Bean, who went on to a long and successful career advocating from within for gay representation in Major League Baseball as the league’s vice president and ambassador for inclusion and later as senior vice president and special assistant to the commissioner.

But that’s a sorry record and professional sports leagues should redouble their efforts at making gay players (and fans) feel welcome. From fully embracing Pride nights again to adopting zero tolerance policies for hate speech, there’s much more work to be done to make it easier for pro male athletes to come out.

“Heated Rivalry” star Williams recently told an interviewer that he has received private messages from closeted active pro athletes in multiple sports who don’t feel they can come out. How sad that in 2026, even the most successful (and wealthy) among us still feel compelled to hide in the closet.

Let’s hope that “Heated Rivalry,” which has been renewed for a second season, sparks a more enlightened conversation about the closet and the need to foster affirming workplaces in professional sports and beyond.

GERARD BURLEY

, also known as Coach G, is founder and CEO of Sweat DC.

The power of no

Pick one priority this year, not 10 January arrives with optimism. New year energy. Fresh possibilities. A belief that this could finally be the year things change. And every January, I watch people respond to that optimism the same way. By adding.

More workouts. More structure. More goals. More commitments. More pressure to transform. We add healthier meals. We add more family time. We add more career focus. We add more boundaries. We add more growth. Somewhere along the way, transformation becomes a list instead of a direction.

But what no one talks about enough is this: You can only receive what you actually have space for. You don’t have unlimited energy. You have 100 percent. That’s it.

Not 120. Not 200. Not grind harder and magically find more.

Your body knows this even if your calendar ignores it. Your nervous system knows it even if your ambition doesn’t want to admit it. When you try to pour more into a cup that’s already full, something spills.

Usually it’s your peace. Or your consistency. Or your health.

What I’ve learned over time is that most people don’t need more motivation. They need clarity. Not more goals, but priority.

Not more opportunity, but discernment.

So this January, instead of asking what you’re going to add, I want to offer something different. What if this year becomes a season of no.

No to things that drain you. No to things that distract you. No to things that look good on paper but don’t feel right in your body. And to make this real, here’s how you actually do it.

Identify your one true priority and protect it

Most people struggle with saying no because they haven’t clearly said yes to anything first. When everything matters, nothing actually does. Pick one priority for this season. Not 10. One. Once you identify it, everything else gets filtered through that lens. Does this support my priority, or does it compete with it?

Earlier this year, I had two leases in my hands. One for Shaw and one for National Landing in Virginia. From the outside, the move felt obvious. Growth is celebrated.

Expansion is rewarded. More locations look like success. But my gut and my nervous system told me I couldn’t do both.

Saying no felt like failure at first. It felt like I was slowing down when I was supposed to be speeding up. But what I was

really doing was choosing alignment over optics.

I knew what I was capable of thriving in.

I knew my limits. I knew my personal life mattered. My boyfriend mattered. My family mattered. My physical health mattered.

My mental health mattered. Looking back now, saying no was one of the best decisions I could have made for myself and for my team.

If something feels forced, rushed, or misaligned, trust that signal. If it’s meant for you, it will come back when the timing is right.

Look inside before you look outside

So many of us are chasing who we think we’re supposed to be— who the city needs us to be. Who social media rewards. Who our resume says we should become next.

But clarity doesn’t come from noise. It comes from stillness. Moments of silence.

Moments of gratitude. Moments where your nervous system can settle. Your body already knows who you are long before your ego tries to upgrade you.

One of the most powerful phrases I ever practiced was simple: You are enough.

I said it for years before I believed it.

And when I finally did, everything shifted.

I stopped chasing growth just to prove something. I stopped adding just to feel worthy. I could maintain. I could breathe. I could be OK where I was.

Gerard from Baltimore was enough.

Anything else I added became extra.

Turning 40 made this clearer than ever.

My twenties were about finding myself. My thirties were about proving myself. My forties are about being myself.

I wish I knew then what I know now. I hope the 20 year olds catch it early. I hope the 30 year olds don’t wait as long as I did.

Because the only way to truly say yes to yourself is by saying no first.

Remove more than you add

Before you write your resolutions, try this. If you plan to add three things this year, identify six things you’re willing to remove. Habits. Distractions. Commitments.

Energy leaks.

Maybe growth doesn’t look like expansion for you this year. Maybe it looks like focus. Maybe it looks like honoring your limits. January isn’t asking you to become superhuman. It’s asking you to become intentional. And sometimes the most powerful word you can say for your future is no.

With love always, Coach G. V I E WP O I NT • JA NUA RY 2 3 , 2 0 2 6 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 7

WILL FRIES

is a Maryland communications strategist with experience in multiple major presidential campaigns.

Queer liberation is your liberation When we defend the most targeted, we defend the future

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Authoritarianism does not announce its arrival. It’s too cowardly for that. It advances quietly, at the margins, testing how much fear and cruelty a community will tolerate and what bystanders will allow to happen to fellow human beings. History shows that queer folks, especially trans people, are often targeted first. That targeting is not incidental. It is intentional.

Defending queer rights is not a niche concern. It is a test of democratic health. A society that allows one group to be targeted will not stop there. Those who come for queer people in the morning are the same that go for educators, journalists, voters, and civil institutions in the afternoon. This is not speculation.

It is a well-worn pattern.

Around the world, LGBTQ+ communities are under coordinated attack. In Russia, the so-called “international LGBTQ movement” has been labeled extremist, legally equating queer identity with terrorism. We are seeing distinct echoes of that foreign influence here at home. Elsewhere, governments criminalize queer existence, erase trans people from public life, or force people into silence through intimidation. The sequence is familiar: dehumanizing rhetoric, restrictive policy, and eventually open endorsements of violence. When these warning signs are ignored, repression accelerates.

It would be comforting to believe this is distant or abstract. It is not. In the United States, LGBTQ+ people, including trans people, have sought asylum abroad because they no longer feel safe in our own communities. When our neighbors must leave to feel safe, we have failed our community.

Experts at the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention have warned that trans communities in the United States face serious and escalating danger. Their analysis is grounded in history. Genocide is not only mass killing.

It is the systematic destruction of a group’s ability to exist safely and openly. Legal erasure, public demonization, exclusion from institutions, and tolerated harassment are all early stages of that process. History is clear.

The time to act is before harm becomes irreversible.

Democratic backsliding rarely arrives with fanfare. It comes through school board votes, bureaucratic rules, elected leaders’ inaction, and symbolic reversals that seem small until they accumulate. This is how erosion takes hold.

In Salisbury, Md., my hometown, that erosion has become visible. The city halted the flying of Pride flags during Pride month and removed our downtown rainbow crosswalk.

These were not neutral administrative choic-

es. They sent a clear message to queer residents that their visibility and belonging are unwelcome.

When a community removes symbols that affirm dignity and safety, when books reflecting queer realities are pulled from schools and libraries, when children are excluded from participating in life simply because they are different, it creates harm. It teaches that difference is dangerous. And when politicians and people in positions of responsibility fail to protect trans kids, real harm follows: mental health crises, isolation, and even lives lost.

Pride flags, rainbow crosswalks, inclusive curricula, and supportive policies are not merely symbolic. They communicate that everyone belongs and that discrimination will not be tolerated. Removing them isolates queer people and emboldens those who see community as an exclusive club rather than a shared responsibility.

Queer liberation is not separate from the liberation of the broader community. It is inseparable from it. Living openly as queer challenges systems built on fear, rigid roles, and enforced conformity. When queer people gain ground, everyone gains ground.

Each victory for queer liberation strengthens democracy itself.

This is how we know progress is possible.

Every time a Pride flag stays flying. Every time a crosswalk remains painted. Every time a local ordinance protects gender identity. Every time a school affirms a student’s dignity.

These are not small wins. Liberation grows through accumulation.

National politics can feel chaotic and overwhelming. Federal institutions are slow, complex, and distant. But democratic defense does not begin there. It begins locally, when neighbors show up to town halls, demand accountability, and refuse to let bigotry shape policy. It does not take extraordinary power to protect a city council chamber or a school board meeting. It takes people willing to stand up. It takes bystanders willing to step in.

This is the moment to act. Silence enables erosion. Action creates momentum. The question is not whether change is possible. It is whether you are willing to claim it.

Queer liberation is your liberation. When we defend the most targeted among us, we defend the future we all share. Every Pride flag flown, every rainbow crosswalk returned, every book left on the shelf, and every policy that affirms dignity sends a message far beyond town limits. It tells the world that democracy is being defended here.

Local victories are global victories. And every one of them matters.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

The felon in the White House must be stopped Are there any decent Republican members of Congress left?

We are up shit’s creek if the felon in the White House actually thinks he has a Nobel Peace Prize. If he believes he deserves one, or Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado had any other reason to give him hers, than it was easier, and less degrading, than going on her knees to him, as a number of men already have. I don’t know if she understood how many millions the medal could be worth. Instead, she could have used it for her people, if she didn’t want to keep it.

Machado was awarded the Nobel Prize for her work for the Venezuelan people. She spoke up for them, and fought for them. The felon couldn’t care less about them. He proved that by invading, and then supported Maduro’s vice president as president. He said he, and his fascist cohorts, would run the country, and is now stealing their oil and personally deciding what to do with it. After U.S. troops captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump said, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado “doesn’t have the support within Venezuela to be its next leader, she was not consulted prior to the operation.” He went on to say, “I think it would be very tough for her to be the leader. She doesn’t have the support within or the respect within the country.” This is the slime bag she gave her Nobel Peace Prize medal to. I hope she is not naïve enough to believe he really cares about her, or her countrymen, and women.

Trump is vile, sick, and mentally deranged. He is threatening foes and allies alike.

They see bending a knee to him only works for the moment, but has no long-term impact on his tiny brain. Today, he is threatening Greenland, and our NATO allies are moving their military to Greenland to protect it against the United States. Now he is threatening them with new tariffs. That would have once been unfathomable. He is saber rattling over Iran, Colombia, even Mexico. He is bombing Nigeria and Syria.

If that weren’t enough, he threatens to use the Insurrection Act to send the military into cities here. He has already sent in thousands of ICE agents. ICE is classified as a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security. They have authority to arrest, detain, and investigate immigration violations. However, the law is clear; ICE agents do not have unlimited power. They face significant constitutional restrictions that many people don’t realize, especially when it comes to entering homes and private spaces. But what is clear, in Minneapolis today, some of the agents are acting like the Gestapo. They are smashing car windows, pulling people out of their cars, invading homes, and workplaces, all without first having any proof the people they are going after are guilty of anything. I believe we need fair immigration laws, and they should be enforced. But this is clearly not what the felon is doing. The felon in the White House and his incompetent stooge at Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, who has no idea what the hell she is doing, are acting egregiously, and making a mockery of our democracy.

The president, Noem, Hegseth, Bondi, and the other incompetents in the felon’s Cabinet, simply pretend to forget the history of the United States. They don’t want to accept the truth; we are a nation of immigrants. It is immigrants who built our country, and are still building it. My parents were immigrants escaping from Hitler, and they came here and built a life, and in doing so, added to the greatness of our country. I want every person around the world who needs to escape from dictators, and despots, to be able to do the same as my parents did. We need to build an immigration system that allows them to do that. Instead, because of what this felon is doing, we are seeing American citizens thinking of leaving this country, and looking for asylum in others. That is really sick, but it’s happening.

Sitting in the Oval Office today we have a felon who is reveling in becoming the war president. He is taking the United States down an incredibly dangerous path, threatening our own citizens with violence here at home, and doing the same to our allies around the world. He, and the incompetents and fascists surrounding him, need to be stopped. If there are any decent Republican members of Congress left, they need to join with Democrats, and the voters, to stop him.

REVIEW: Nick Benton’s ‘Please Don’t Eat Your Children’ DAVID HOFFMAN FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS

This is more than a mere book review. This is an impassioned salute to its author, the iconically aware and journalistically gifted Nick Benton.

Sometimes hailed as the seer of Falls Church and surrounding environs -- like a somewhat poorer but equally prescient Warren Buffet, sometimes himself called the oracle of Omaha -- Nick Benton is truly a man a Man for All Seasons, for virtually dozens of reasons.

Benton is of course the founder and owner and editor of this very publication -- the Falls Church News Press, founded and funded by him on a wing and a prayer in 1991, and continuously and prophetically in print ever since, with over 1600 consecutive weekly editions, tireless and timely, Benton has somehow, through all these crazy, cranky, cursed and cracked-up years, remained comfortable in his own skin.

Occasionally a curmudgeon, although always charming (even when sounding the tocsin of alarm), a truly self-effacing Jeremiah quite as much as the enormously modest Buffett, Benton has retained a pivotal posture of uncompromising progressivism in an era of down-market right-wing snake oil salesmen.

Yes, I'm talking about you, President Trump!

Always a scrupulous observer and just-the-facts recorder of the frantic foibles and frequent foolishness our post-industrial and post-modern life and times, Benton's balancing act has been to stay in business somehow, during an era when print journalism is sadly fading away before our very eyes.

Like a modern-day Clarence Darrow, Benton is himself deeply rooted in both the 20th and the 21st centuries. He is in fact so very essential to his faithful readers scattered throughout not only Falls Church itself but also the city of Alexandria and the populous counties of Arlington and Fairfax, that it may reasonably now be said that he is in fact (with minimum hyperbole) an heir to the literary canon and historic Enlightenment tradition of mordant satire and visionary call to alarms and arms of the stature of, yes, Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Himself the bearer of the eponymous adjective "swiftian," the Anglo-Irish essayist and Anglican clergyman was the author of several lasting classics like "Gulliver's Travels" and more to the current point, the tongue in cheek call to reduce alleged population pressures by the extremist Malthusian absurdity of eating the children of Ireland.

Dear Reader, as Jane Austen might address you, Benton is simply the real deal! And believe it or not, this is actually his eighth book!

(I know people who haven't even read that many books total, much less written them!)

This one has a long title but "please" bear with me. It's “Please Don’t Eat Your Children, Cult Century and Other 2025 Essays: Contributions to Contemporary History” (Falls Church, Virginia: BCI Books, 2025, published this week and available online).

Like the impish author himself and his sometimes-antic muse, Benton is frequently puckish as in, "What fools these mortals be."

He is equally a nimble satirist, throughout these compelling collected essays, many of which were originally published in this very newspaper.

He is also often, in these immensely readable pages, an amiable satyr, yet with a solidly Christian soul underlying his occasional pagan reflections in a golden eye, and his distinctively witty and syncretistic synthesis of sin and salvation.

The lead title is a direct reflection derived from Swift's original fierce satire about dining on Irish infants and children. Cult Century meanwhile is a deliberate and well-deserved poke in the eye of the boastful and benighted Bloviator in Chief, President Donald J. Trump and his motley gang that mostly couldn't shoot straight-- the shocking menagerie headed by the truly odious Stephen Miller and the creepy collection of semi-neo-fascist hangers-on who staff -- like latter-day bargain-basement Goebbels and Himmler -- the Trumpist revanchist cult of blood-and-soil Christian nationalist 4th-Reich-Rightwing-Reactionary Republicanism so gravely out of synch with Eisenhower or Reagan or Bush or McCain or Romney.

In conclusion, Benton even provides a confessional note. He admits to his own personal "gullible's travails," in his blessedly relatively brief involvement in the 1970s in the foolish and bizarre cult of Lyndon LaRouche, a genuine precursor to today's catastrophic Trump MAGA cult.

In effect, Benton pulls back the proverbial screen and warns us to pay close attention to the malignant cancer of the Trump cult, this bewitching brew of morose mayhem and mischief. Benton essentially says that Trump is a "fountainhead" of feral and facile fascism, to adapt the very title of the grotesquely curdled 700-page mess of a lumpy libertarian wet dream, the best-selling melodramatic and hopelessly didactic novel published in1968 by the kooky right-winger Ayn Rand, about the architect Howard Roark, an obsessed builder like Trump himself. Later adapted into one of the lesser films starring the often somewhat wooden Gary Cooper, The Fountainhead is the antithesis of Nick Benton's sprightly counter narrative. From Roark to Trump, how history repeats itself (or rhymes), the first time as facile melodrama, the second time as fascist farce.

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MISTR’s Tristan Schukraft on evolution of HIV prevention From ACT UP to apps, embracing stigma-free care

By AJ SLOAN

LOS ANGELES — It was not too long ago that an HIV diagnosis was read as a death sentence. In its earlier decades, the HIV/AIDS crisis was synonymous with fear and loss, steeped in stigma. Over recent years, open conversation and science have come together to combat this stigma while proactively paving the way for life-saving treatments and preventive measures like PrEP. Now, in 2026, with discreet and modern platforms that meet people where they’re at in their lives, HIV prevention has evolved from hushed words of warning into something far more sex-positive and accessible. Game-changing services like MISTR are a testament to this shift, showing our community that healthcare doesn’t have to feel clinical or shaming to work. It can be empowering and, dare I say, celebratory.

Few people embody this evolution quite like Tristan Schukraft, founder of MISTR. With one hand in healthcare and the other high-fiving through queer nightlife, Schukraft gets that, from the bar to the bedroom and beyond, prevention happens in person and in real life.

His approach has helped turn PrEP, DoxyPEP, and testing into normalized parts of our daily queer life, reaching hundreds of thousands of people across the US. In our conversation, Schukraft shares candidly about stigma, policy, and why the future of sexual health depends on keeping it real.

BLADE: You have one hand in healthcare and the other in nightlife and queer spaces. Can you share with us how these two spheres impact and inform each other?

How do they impact and inform you?

SCHUKRAFT: Honestly, for me, they’ve never been separate. Nightlife and queer spaces are where people meet, date, hook up, fall in love, and make friends. That’s real life. Being in queer spaces all the time keeps me grounded and reminds me who we’re building MISTR for.

BLADE: MISTR markets sexual health in a sex-positive, stigma-free fashion. Can you share with us how you measure the impact of this approach?

SCHUKRAFT: This year, we held the first-ever National PrEP Day. Dua Lipa performed, and Cardi B was there.

After the event, Cardi B went on her Instagram live to encourage people to sign up for PrEP. When you make sexual health stigma-free and sex positive, people talk about it. We see it in how people use the platform. When 700,000 people are willing to sign up, get tested, start PrEP, and add things like DoxyPEP, that tells us we’ve made it feel safe and normal instead of scary or awkward. And then we see it in the results. Since we expanded DoxyPEP, STI positivity among our patients dropped by half.

BLADE: How have you seen the conversation of sexual health in our LGBTQ+ community change in mainstream culture in recent years?

SCHUKRAFT: Ten years ago, nobody was casually talking about PrEP, and if they did, it likely referenced one being a Truvada whore. Now it’s part of the culture.

Popstars like Troye Sivan post pictures of their daily PrEP pill on social media. Cardi B goes on Instagram Live telling people to get on PrEP. For many sexually active gay men, taking PrEP is simply part of the gay experience. For people in more remote areas, it might not be as talked about. Particularly in rural or more conservative places, MISTR can be a life-changing option. No awkward visits to the family doctor or the local pharmacy where everybody knows your business. It’s all done discreetly online and shipped straight to your door.

BLADE: You have publicly argued that cuts to government HIV prevention funding are of high risk. Would you please elaborate for us on what those budget decisions mean on an individual level?

SCHUKRAFT: It means real people fall through the cracks. Someone doesn’t get tested. Someone waits too long to start PrEP. Someone finds out they’re HIV-positive later than they should have. Community clinics will be the hardest hit, especially those in underserved communities. The good news is that MISTR is ready to help people who might lose their access to care. All you need to do is sign up at mistr.com, and it’s totally free with or without insurance.

BLADE: From your (and MISTR’s) perspective, how do these funding cuts threaten ongoing efforts to end the HIV epidemic?

SCHUKRAFT: For the first time, we have all the tools to end HIV. If everybody who is HIV negative is taking PrEP and everyone HIV+ is virally suppressed, we can end all new HIV transmissions in the United States. We have everything we need today. All we need is to get more people on PrEP. Cutting funding risks losing that momentum. Ending HIV requires scale and consistency.

Every time funding gets cut, you lose momentum, trust, and infrastructure, and rebuilding that takes years.

HIV transmissions don’t pause because budgets change.

BLADE: In our current climate of decreased federal investment, what role do you feel private healthcare and business should play in sexual health?

SCHUKRAFT: With reports that the current administration is considering cuts to HIV and prevention funding, we face a moment of reckoning. At the same time, some employers are seeking to exclude PrEP and HIV prevention from their coverage on religious freedom grounds. If these challenges succeed, and if federal funding is slashed, the consequences for public health will be devastating. But this is where the private sector must step up to fill the gap, bridge divides, and deliver results.

Businesses have the power and platform to normalize HIV prevention and drive measurable outcomes. At MISTR, we see firsthand what’s possible: since introducing DoxyPEP, STI positivity rates among our patients have been cut in half. But it’s not just about medication. It’s about messaging.

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TRISTAN SCHUKRAFT (Photo courtesy of Schukraft)

Our sex-positive, stigma-free marketing speaks directly to our community, making sexual health part of everyday life. No awkward doctor visits, no needles, no paperwork — just free online PrEP and STI testing, prescribed by real physicians and delivered to your door. That kind of impact could grow exponentially if more employers embraced this approach and made HIV prevention part of their employee wellness programs.

Employers, this is your call to action. Start by making sure your health plans cover PrEP and DoxyPEP. Partner with platforms like MISTR to give employees private, stigma-free access to care. Offer on-site testing. Talk openly about sexual health, not just during Pride, but every day of the year. This is not political — this is about protecting lives, strengthening communities, and building a healthier, more productive workforce. Because healthy employees aren’t just good for public health — they’re good for business.

When the private sector steps up, outcomes improve.

And when businesses align with platforms like MISTR, scaling impact isn’t just possible — it’s happening.

BLADE: Has MISTR experienced any direct effects from these recent shifts in public health funding?

SCHUKRAFT: MISTR’s unique model is totally free for patients with or without insurance, and we don’t cost the government or taxpayers a penny. We are scaling up our efforts to reach people who might be losing their access or care.

BLADE: What would be your message to policymakers who are considering further cuts to HIV/AIDS programs?

SCHUKRAFT: During his first term, President Donald Trump committed unprecedented resources to the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative here at home. Bipartisan support has shown what’s possible when bold leadership meets smart strategy. To policymakers: I urge you to reconsider any cuts to HIV prevention funding. This is not the time to pull back. It’s the time to push forward. Ending HIV is within reach — but only if government, private industry, and community organizations stand together.

BLADE: What is one perhaps overlooked win from last year that impacted you on a personal level?

SCHUKRAFT: Seeing our STI positivity rate drop by half after expanding DoxyPEP. BLADE: Looking at the year ahead, what are MISTR’s most significant priorities for sexual health in 2026?

SCHUKRAFT: Expanding access, especially in the South and in communities that still get left out. Rolling out injectable PrEP. And just continuing to make sexual healthcare easier and more normal.

Upcoming Performances Royal Philharmonic Orchestra

Les Ballets Africains THE NATIONAL DANCE COMPANY OF THE REPUBLIC OF GUINEA

Ray Chen, violin soloist

A Performance for the World Friday, Feb. 20 at 8 p.m.

Vasily Petrenko, music director

Friday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m.

An exhilarating program featuring this global phenomenon performing Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto.

Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble Dances to American Music Saturday, Feb. 7 at 8 p.m.

Mark Morris Dance Group and Music Ensemble

TICKETS

703-993-2787

“sheer physical energy and beauty” (New York Times)

Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra with Vaughn Wiester The Music of Stan Kenton Jim Carroll, artistic director

Saturday, Feb. 28 at 8 p.m.

Featuring live music by iconic American composers

Big band jazz featuring this inimitable trombonist

CFA.GMU.EDU

LOCATED ON THE FAIRFAX CAMPUS OF GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY

A Mason Arts Venue

Be Remembered Call or email for

FREE INFORMATION on creating your charitable legacy.

202-955-5890

LEGACY@THECOMMUNITYFOUNDATION.ORG

WWW.THECOMMUNITYFOUNDATION.ORG

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CALENDAR |

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, January 23

Tuesday, January 27

Center Aging Monthly Luncheon With Yoga will be at noon at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Email Mac at maca@thedccenter.org if you require ASL interpreter assistance, have any dietary restrictions, or questions about this event.

Trans Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. This group is intended to provide an emotionally and physically safe space for trans people and those who may be questioning their gender identity/expression to join together in community and learn from one another. For more details, email info@thedccenter.org.

Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so — by sharing struggles and victories the group allows those newly coming out and who have been out for a while to learn from others. For more details, visit the group’s Facebook.

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.

Saturday, January 24 GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 11 a.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.

Black Lesbian Support Group will be at 11 a.m. on Zoom. This is a peer-led support group devoted to the joys and challenges of being a Black lesbian. You do not need to be a member of the Beta Kappa Chapter or the Beta Phi Omega Sorority in order to join, but they do ask that you either identify as a lesbian or are questioning that aspect of your identity. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Monday, January 26 “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).

Queer Book Club will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This month’s books are “The Nightmare Before Kissmas” by Sara Raasch and “Transgender History” by Susan Stryker.

For more details, email info@thedccenter.org.

OUT & ABOUT ‘Queer Eye’ watch party set for Friday The DC Center is hosting a watch party for an episode of the 10th and final season of “Queer Eye,” which was filmed in D.C. The screening will be held on Friday, Jan. 23 from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Center.

The screening will last 45-55 minutes, with community time both before and after the episode. Drinks and snacks will be provided and organizers promise a “surprise or two.” For information on tickets, visit the DC Center’s website.

Wednesday, January 28 Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom upon request. 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.

Asexual and Aromantic Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a space where people who are questioning this aspect of their identity or those who identify as asexual and/or aromantic can come together, share stories and experiences, and discuss various topics. Currently, this group is a meeting place for both identities, but we realize that as time passes, the groups may choose to host individual meetings.For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Thursday, January 29 Virtual Yoga Class will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This free weekly class is a combination of yoga, breath work and meditation that allows LGBTQ community members to continue their healing journey with somatic and mindfulness practices. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

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Members of the cast of ‘Queer Eye’ speak at an event at Crush Dance Bar in August. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Here’s where to watch ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ with fellow fans Spark Social Events will host “Ru Paul’s Drag Race S18 Watch Party Hosted by Local Drag Queens” on Friday, Jan. 23 at 8 p.m.

Drag entertainers TrevHER and Grey will provide commentary and make live predictions on who’s staying and who’s going home. Stick around after the show for a live drag performance. The watch party will take place on a heated outdoor patio and cozy indoor space.

This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

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THEATER

Swing actor Thomas Nutter covers five principal parts in ‘Clue’ Unique role in National Theatre production requires lots of memorization

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Out actor Thomas Netter has been touring with “Clue” since it opened in Rochester, New York, in late October, and he’s soon settling into a week-long run at D.C.’s National Theatre.

Adapted by Sandy Rustin from the same-titled 1985 campy cult film, which in turn took its inspiration from the popular board game, “Clue” brings all the murder mystery mayhem to stage.

It’s 1954, the height of the Red Scare, and a half dozen shady characters are summoned to an isolated mansion by a blackmailer named Mr. Boddy where things go awry fairly fast. A fast-moving homage to the drawing room whodunit genre with lots of wordplay, slapstick, and farce, “Clue” gives the comedic actors a lot to do and the audience much to laugh at.

When Netter tells friends that he’s touring in “Clue,” they inevitably ask “Who are you playing and when can we see you in it?” His reply isn’t straightforward.

The New York-based actor explains, “In this production, I’m a swing. I never know who’ll I play or when I’ll go on. Almost at any time I can be called on to play a different part. I cover five roles, almost all of the men in the show.”

Unlike an understudy who typically learns one principal or supporting role and performs in the ensemble nightly, a swing learns any number of parts and waits quietly offstage throughout every performance just in case.

With 80 minutes of uninterrupted quick, clipped talk “Clue” can be tough for a swing. Still, Netter, 28, adds, “I’m loving it, and I’m working with a great cast.

There’s no sort of “All About Eve” dynamic going on here.”

WASHINGTON BLADE: Learning multiple tracks has got to be terrifying.

THOMAS NETTER: Well, there certainly was a learning curve for me. I’ve understudied roles in musicals but I’ve never covered five principal parts in a play, and the sheer amount of memorization was daunting.

As soon as I got the script, I started learning lines character by character. I transformed my living room into the mansion’s study and hallway, and got on my feet as much as I could and began to get the parts into my body.

BLADE: During the tour, have you been called on to perform much?

NETTER: Luckily, everyone has been healthy. But I was called on in Pittsburgh where I did Wadsworth, the butler, and the following day did the cop speaking to the character that I was playing the day before.

BLADE: Do you dread getting that call?

NETTER: Can’t say I dread it, but there is that little bit of stage fright involved. Coming in, my goal was

THOMAS NETTER stars in ‘Clue.’

to know the tracks. After I’d done my homework and released myself from nervous energy, I could go out and perform and have fun. After all, I love to act.

“Clue” is an opportunity for me to live in the heads of five totally different archetype characters. As an actor that part is very exciting. In this comedy, depending on the part, some nights it’s kill and other nights be killed.

BLADE: Aside from the occasional nerves, would you swing again?

NETTER: Oh yeah, I feel I’m living out the dream of the little gay boy I once was. Traveling around getting a beat on different communities. If there’s a gay bar, I’m stopping by and meeting interesting and cool people.

BLADE: Speaking of that little gay boy, what drew him to theater?

NETTER: Grandma and mom were big movie musical fans, show likes “Singing in the Rain,” “Meet Me in St. Louis.” I have memories of my grandma dancing me around the house to “Shall We Dance?” from the “King and I” She put me in tap class at age four.

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BLADE: What are your career highlights to date?

NETTER: Studying the Meisner technique at New York’s Neighborhood Playhouse for two years was definitely a highlight. Favorite parts would include the D’Ysquith family [all eight murder victims] in “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder,” and the monstrous Miss Trunchbull in “Matilda.”

BLADE: And looking forward?

NETTER: I’d really like the chance to play Finch or Frump in Frank Loesser’s musical comedy “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.”

BLADE: In the meantime, you can find Netter backstage at the National waiting to hear those exhilarating words “You’re on!”

‘Clue: On Stage’

Jan. 27-Feb. 1 | The National Theatre 1321 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. thenationaldc.com

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FILM

A ‘Battle’ we can’t avoid

Critical darling is part action thriller, part political allegory, part satire

By JOHN PAUL KING

When Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another” debuted on American movie screens last September, it had a lot of things going for it: an acclaimed Hollywood auteur working with a cast that included three Oscar-winning actors, on an ambitious blockbuster with his biggest budget to date, and a $70 million advertising campaign to draw in the crowds. It was even released in IMAX. It was still a box office disappointment, failing to achieve its “break-even” threshold before making the jump from big screen to small via VOD rentals and streaming on HBO Max. Whatever the reason – an ambivalence toward its stars, a lack of clarity around what it was about, divisive pushback from both progressive and conservative camps over perceived messaging, or a general sense of fatigue over real-world events that had pushed potential moviegoers to their saturation point when it came to material that is as politically charged as this movie does – audiences failed to show up for it.

The story did not end there, of course; most critics, unconcerned with box office receipts, embraced Anderson’s grand-scale opus, and it’s now a top contender in this year’s awards race, already securing top prizes at the Golden Globe and Critics’ Choice Awards, nominated for a record number of SAG’s Actor Awards, and almost certain to be a front runner in multiple categories at the Academy Awards on March 15.

LEONARDO DICAPRIO stars in ‘One Battle After Another.’ (Image courtesy of Warner Bros)

For cinema buffs who care about such things, that means the time has come: get over all those misgivings and hesitations, whatever reasons might be behind them, and see for yourself why it’s at the top of so many “Best Of” lists.

Part action thriller, part political allegory, part jet-black satire, and all gloriously cinematic, “One Battle After Another” (adapted by Anderson from the 1990 Thomas Pynchon novel “Vineland”) unspools a near-mythic saga of oppression, resistance, and family bonds, set in an authoritarian America of unspecified date, in which a former revolutionary (Leonardo DiCaprio) is attempting to raise his daughter (Chase Infiniti)

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under the radar after her mother (Teyana Taylor) betrayed the movement and fled the country. Now living under a fake identity and consumed by paranoia and a weed habit, he has grown soft and unprepared when a corrupt military officer (Sean Penn) – who may be his daughter’s real biological father – tracks them down and apprehends her. Determined to find her, he reconnects with his old revolutionary network and enlists the aid of her karate teacher (Benecio Del Toro), embarking on a desperate rescue mission while her captor plots to erase all traces of his former “indiscretion” with her mother.

It’s a plot straight out of a mainstream action melodrama, top-heavy with opportunities for old-school action, sensationalistic violence, and epic car chases (all of which it delivers), but in the hands of Anderson – whose sensibilities always seem to strike the most provocative balance between introspection, nostalgia, and an irreverent sense of apt-but-chaotic destiny – it becomes much more intriguing than the generic tropes with which he half-seriously invokes to cover his own absurdist leanings.

Indeed, it’s that absurdity that infuses “One Battle” with a kind of thrilling sensibility and emerges to distinguish it from the “action movie” format it uses to relay its narrative. From DiCaprio (whose performance highlights his subtle comedic gifts as much as his “serious” acting chops) as a bathrobe-clad underdog hero with shades of The Dude from the Coen Brothers’ “The Big Liebowski” to the hilariously creepy secret society of financially elite white supremacists that lurks in the margins of the action, Anderson gives us plenty of satirical fodder to chuckle about, even if we cringe as we chuckle. Like that masterpiece of uncomfortable political comedy, Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 nuclear holocaust farce “Dr. Strangelove,” it offers us ridiculousness and buffoonery that ring so perfectly true in a terrifying reality that we can’t really laugh at it.

That, perhaps, is why Anderson’s film has had a hard time drawing viewers; though it’s based on a book from nearly four decades ago and it was conceived, written, and created well before our current political reality, the world it creates hits a little too close to home. It imagines a roughly contemporary America ruled by a draconian regime, where immigration enforcement, police, and the military all seem wrapped into one oppressive force, and where unapologetic racism dictates an entire ideology that works in the shadows to impose its twisted values on the world. When it was conceived and written, it must have felt like an exaggeration. Now, watching the final product in 2026, it feels almost like an inevitability. Let’s face it, none of us wants to accept the reality of fascism imposing itself on our daily lives; a movie that forces us to confront it is, unfortunately, bound to feel like a downer. We get enough “doomscrolling” on social media; we don’t need more of it when we sit down to watch a movie.

In truth, however, “One Battle” is anything but a downer. Full of comedic flourish (much of it due to DiCaprio) it maintains a rigorous distance that makes it impossible to make snap judgments about its characters, and that makes all the difference – especially with characters like DiCaprio’s protective dad, whose behavior sometimes feels toxic from a certain point of view. And though it’s a movie that has no qualms about showing us things we cannot or should not see, it somehow comes off better than it might have done by making everything feel safe.

That’s something we are never allowed to feel in Anderson’s outlandish action adventure, even at an intellectual level. For even if we can laugh at some of its overthe-top flourishes or find emotional (or ideological) satisfaction in the way things ultimately play out, we can’t walk away from it without feeling the dread that comes from recognizing the ugly truths behind its satirical absurdities. In the end, it’s all too real, too familiar, too dire for us not to be unsettled. After all, it’s only a movie, but the things it shows us are not too far from our reality. Indeed, they’re getting closer every day, and nobody can save us from them but ourselves.

Visually masterful, superbly performed, and flawlessly delivered by a cinematic master, it’s a movie that, like it or not, defines the uncomfortable reality we face, and there’s nobody to save it from us but ourselves.

GAY MEN’S CHORUS OF WASHINGTON, DC PRESENTS

IN

A CELEBRATION OF BLACK EXCELLENCE IN MUSIC WITH SPECIAL GUESTS GMCW’S 17TH STREET DANCE FEBRUARY 21 AT 5:00PM (ASL) THE HOWARD THEATRE 620 T STREET NW TICKETS & INFO AT GMCW.ORG

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BOOKS

‘The Director’ highlights film director who collaborated with Hitler But new book omits gay characters, themes from Weimar era

By CHARLES FRANCIS

Garbo to Goebbels, Daniel Kehlmann’s historical novel “The Director” is the story of Austrian film director G.W. Pabst (18851967) and his descent down a crooked staircase of ambition into collaboration with Adolph Hitler’s film industry and its Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels.

Kehlmann’s historical fiction is rooted in the world of Weimar German filmmaking and Nazi “Aryan” cinema, but it is a searing story for our challenging time as well.

Pabst was a legendary silent film director from the Weimar Republic’s Golden Era of filmmaking. He “discovered” Greta Garbo; directed silent screen star Louise Brooks; worked with Hitler’s favored director Leni Riefensthahl (“Triumph of the Will”); was a close friend of Fritz Lang (“Metropolis”); and lived in Hollywood among the refugee German film community, poolside with Billy Wilder (“Some Like it Hot”) and Fred Zinnemann (“High Noon”) — both of whose families perished in the Holocaust.

Yet, Pabst left the safety of a life and career in Los Angeles and returned to Nazi Germany in pursuit of his former glory.

He felt the studios were giving him terrible scripts and not permitting him to cast his films as he wished. Then he received a signal that he would be welcome in Nazi Germany. He was not Jewish.

Kehlmann, whose father at age 17 was sent to a concentration camp and survived, takes the reader inside each station of Pabst’s passage from Hollywood frustration to moral ruin, making the incremental compromises that collectively land him in the hellish Berlin office of Joseph Goebbels. In an unforgettably phantasmagoric scene, Goebbels triples the stakes with the aging filmmaker, “Consider what I can offer you….a concentration camp. At any time.

No problem,” he says. “Or what else…anything you want. Any budget, any actor. Any film you want to make.” Startled, paralyzed and seduced by the horror of such an offer, Pabst accepts not with a signature but a salute: “Heil Hitler,” rises Pabst. He’s in.

The novel develops the disgusting world of compromise and collaboration when Pabst is called in to co-direct a schlock feature with Hitler’s cinematic soulmate Riefenstahl. Riefenstahl, the “Directress” is making a film based on the Fuhrer’s favorite opera. She is beautiful, electric and beyond weird playing a Spanish dancer who mesmerizes the rustic Austrian locals with her exotic moves. The problem is scores of extras will be needed to surround and

‘The Director’

By Daniel Kehlmann | Summit Books, 2025 desire Fraulein Riefenstahl. Mysteriously, the “extras” arrive surprising Pabst who wonders where she had gotten so many young men when almost everyone was on the front fighting the war. The extras were trucked in from Salzburg, he is told,

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“Maxglan to be precise.” He pretends not to hear. Maxglan was a forced labor camp for “racially inferior” Sinti and Roma gypsies, who will later be deported from Austria and exterminated. Pabst does not ask questions. All he wants is their faces,

tight black and white shots of their manly, authentic, and hungry features. “You see everything you don’t have,” he exhorts the doomed prisoners to emote for his camera. Great art, he believes, is worth the temporal compromises and enticements that Kehlmann artfully dangles in the director’s face. And it gets worse.

One collaborates in this world with cynicism born of helpless futility. In Hollywood, Pabst was desperate to develop his own pictures and lure the star who could bless his script, one of the thousands that come their way. Such was Greta Garbo, “the most beautiful woman in the world” she was called after being filmed by Pabst in the 1920s. He shot her close-ups in slow motion to make her look even more gorgeous and ethereal. Garbo loved Pabst and owed him much, but Kehlmann writes, “Excessive beauty was hard to bear, it burned something in the people around it, it was like a curse.”

Garbo imagined what it would be like to be “a God or archangel and constantly feel the prayers rising from the depths. There were so many, there was nothing to do but ignore them all.” Fred Zinnemann, later to direct “High Noon”, explains to his poolside guest, “Life here (in Hollywood) is very good if you learn the game. We escaped hell, we ought to be rejoicing all day long, but instead we feel sorry for ourselves because we have to make westerns even though we are allergic to horses.”

The texture of history in the novel is rich.

So, it was disappointing and puzzling there was not an original gay character, a “degenerate” according to Nazi propaganda, portrayed in Pabst’s theater or filmmaking circles. From Hollywood to Berlin to Vienna, it would have been easy to bring a sexual minority to life on the set. Sexual minorities and gender ambiguity were widely presented in Weimar films. Indeed, in one of Pabst’s films “Pandora’s Box” starring Louise Brooks there was a lesbian subplot.

In 1933, when thousands of books written by, and about homosexuals, were looted and thrown onto a Berlin bonfire, Goebbels proclaimed, “No to decadence and moral corruption!” The Pabst era has been de-gayed in “The Director.”

“He had to make films,” Kehlmann cuts to the chase with G.W. Pabst. “There was nothing else he wanted, nothing more important.” Pabst’s long road of compromise, collaboration and moral ruin was traveled in small steps. In a recent interview Kehlmann says the lesson is to “not compromise early when you still have the opportunity to say ‘no.’” Pabst, the director, believed his art would save him. This novel does that in a dark way.

(Charles Francis is President of the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., and author of “Archive Activism: Memoir of a ‘Uniquely Nasty’ Journey.”)

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Mr. Mid Atlantic Leather Gage Ryder wins annual competition (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

The 2026 Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather competition was held at the Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill on Sunday. Seven contestants vied for the title and Gage Ryder was named the winner.

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Takoma Wellness Center DC'S FAMILY-RUN CANNABIS DISPENSARY

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Now open to all 21+

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REAL ESTATE

Convert rent check into an automatic investment, Marjorie!

Basic math shows benefits of owning vs. renting

By JOSEPH HUDSON

Suppose people go out for dinner and everyone is talking about how they are investing their money. Some are having fun with a few new apps they downloaded – where one can round up purchases and then bundle that money into a weekly or monthly investment that grows over time, which is a smart thing to do. The more automatic one can make the investments, the less is required to “think about it” and the more it just happens. It becomes a habit and a habit becomes a reward over time.

Another habit one can get into is just making that rent check an investment. One must live somewhere, correct?

And in many larger U.S. cities like New York, Chicago, D.C., Los Angeles, Miami, Charlotte, Atlanta, Dallas, Nashville, Austin, or even most mid-market cities, rents can creep up towards $2,000 a month (or more) with ease.

Well, do the math. At $2,000 per month over one year, that’s $24,000. If someone stays in that apartment (with no rent increases) for even three years, that amount triples to $72,000. According to Rentcafe.com, the average rent in the United States at the end of 2025 was around $1,700 a month. Even that amount of rent can total between $60,000 and $80,000 over 3-4 years.

What if that money was going into an investment each month? Now, yes, the argument is that most mortgage payments, in the early years, are more toward the interest than the principal. However, at least a portion of each payment is going toward the principal.

What about closing costs and then selling costs? If a home is owned for three years, and then one pays out of pocket to close on that home (usually around 2-3% of the sales price), does owning it for even three years make it worth it? It could be argued that owning that home for only three years is not enough time to recoup the costs of mostly paying the interest plus paying the closing costs.

Let’s look at some math: A $300,000 condo – at 3% is $9,000 for closing costs.

One can also put as little as 3 or 3.5% down on a home – so that is also around $9,000.

If a buyer uses D.C. Opens Doors or a similar program – a down payment can be provided and paid back later when the property is sold so that takes care of some of the upfront costs. Knowledgeable lenders can often discuss other useful down payment assistance programs to help a buyer “find the money.”

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Knowledgeable lenders can discuss useful down payment assistance programs to help a buyer ‘find the money.’

(Photo via Bigstock/89Stocker)

Another useful tactic many agents use is to ask for a credit from the seller. If a property has sat on the market for weeks, the seller may be willing to give a closing cost credit. That amount can vary. New construction sellers may also offer these closing cost credits as well.

And that, Marjorie, just so you will know, and your children will someday know, is THE NIGHT THE RENT CHECK WENT INTO AN INVESTMENT ACCOUNT ON GEORGIA AVENUE!

JOSEPH HUDSON

is a referral agent with Metro Referrals. Reach him at 703-587-0597 or joemike76@gmail.com.

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Owner/Principal Broker direct 410.365.1314 stacey@zeigerrealty.com

Main Office 202.327.0515 zeigerrealty.com

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PET SITTING BY LEY

Looking for a Reliable Pet Sitter? Pet Sitting by Ley has openings available to care for your pet, while you’re away.

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If you need assistance, please email the text & image for your ad to: classifieds@washblade.com or call 202-747-2077 x 8092 & leave a message. We will be happy to assist you! Email your FREE* personal or housing share ad to us! (*first 25 words are free)

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