Washington Blade, Volume 57, Issue 13, March 27, 2026
Honoring our Illuminators and Legends, PAGE 18
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UPCOMING EVENTS
TOUCHSTONE GALLERY
Sunday, March 29 ・ 2 - 5 pm
Tuesday, April 7 ・ 5 - 7 pm
Saturday, April 11 ・ 4 - 5 pm
Join us for an afternoon of art as we celebrate the opening of new exhibitions, including solo shows by McCain McMurray, Rosemary Luckett, and a spotlight by Lakshmikant Gupta.
Celebrate the beauty of the cherry blossoms with a fun evening reception featuring drinks, art, and impeccable vibes. Debuting at this event will be the work of Salvador Rubio Rivera.
Sunday, April 12・ 3 - 5 pm
International Slow Art Day! View a number of selected artworks slowly and then join a group discussion of the viewing experience.
Enjoy the work of artist S. Manya Stoumen-Tolino, featured in the 50 for 50 Visual Artist Spotlight from April 12-18. All events take place at Touchstone Gallery, located at 901 New York Ave NW and are free and open to the public.
Rosemary Luckett
McCain McMurray
Salvador Rubio Rivera
Capital Stonewall Democrats celebrate 50th anniversary
A sold-out crowd of 186 people, including D.C. elected officials and candidates running for D.C. mayor, turned out Friday, March 20, for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary celebration.
Among those attending the event, held at the Pepco Edison Place Gallery building next to the city’s Chinatown neighborhood, were seven D.C. Council members and four Democratic candidates running for mayor.
But at the request of Capital Stonewall Democrats leaders, the Council members, most of whom are running for re-election, and mayoral contenders did not give campaign speeches. Instead, they mingled with the crowd and focused on the accomplishments of the LGBTQ Democratic group over the past 50 years, with some presenting the group’s special “honor” awards to about a dozen prominent LGBTQ Democratic activists. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who was initially expected to attend the event, did not attend.
The mayoral candidates attending included D.C.
Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) and former At-Large Council member Kenyan McDuffie, an independent turned Democrat, who are considered the leading mayoral contenders in the city’s June 16 Democratic Primary. Both have strong, longtime records of support for LGBTQ rights issues.
The other two mayoral candidates attending the event were Gary Goodweather, a real estate manager, and Rini Sampath, a cybersecurity consultant. Sampath told the Washington Blade she self-identifies as queer. Both have expressed strong support on LGBTQ-related issues.
The D.C. Council members attending the event included Lewis George; Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large); Anita Bonds (D-At-Large); Robert White (D-At-Large); Matt Frumin (D-Ward 3); Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only gay member; and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6).
“Tonight we celebrate not just 50 years of history but 50 years of showing up,” Howard Garrett, Capital Stonewall Democrats immediate past president, told the gathering in opening remarks. “Showing up when it was easy, showing up when it wasn’t popular,” he said, adding, “This work only continues if we continue to show up.”
He noted that the deadline for joining the organization in time to be eligible to vote on its endorsement of candidates running in D.C.’s 2026 election was midnight that night. He urged attendees who were not members to go to two tables at the event to join.
The group’s current president, Stevie McCarty, thanked the group’s longtime members who he said played a key role in what he called its historic work in
Gay candidate running for D.C. congressional delegate
Robert Matthews, a former director of the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency, is running in the city’s June 16 Democratic primary for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat as an out gay candidate, according to a statement released by his campaign to the Washington Blade.
Matthews is one of at least 19 candidates running to replace longtime D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), who announced earlier this year that she is not running for re-election.
Information about the candidates’ campaign financing compiled by the Federal Elections Commission, which oversees elections for federal candidates, shows that Matthews is one of only six of the candidates who have raised any money for their campaigns as of March 17.
Among those six, who political observers say have a shot at winning compared to the remaining 13, are D.C. Council members Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) and Robert White (D-At-Large). Both have longstanding records of support for LGBTQ rights and the community.
The FEC campaign finance records show Matthews was in fourth place regarding the money raised for his campaign, which was $49,078 as of March 17. The FEC records show Pinto’s campaign in first place with $843,496 raised, and White in third place with $230,399 raised.
The Matthews campaign statement released to the Blade says Matthews’s “commitment to the LGBTQ community is not a campaign position. It is the foundation of
his life and his life’s work.”
The statement adds, “As the former director of D.C.’s Child and Family Services Agency, Robert led the District’s child welfare system with an explicit commitment to LGBTQ-affirming care.” It goes on to say, “He ensured that LGBTQ, trans, and nonbinary youth in foster care — among the most vulnerable young people in our city — were served with dignity, cultural humility, and genuine support.”
Among his priorities if elected as Congressional delegate, the statement says, would be “fighting to end homelessness among queer and trans seniors and youth,” opposing “federal roadblocks” to LGBTQ related health services, and defending D.C.’s budget and civil rights laws “from federal interference that directly threatens LGBTQ residents.”
The other three candidates who the FEC records show have raised campaign funds and observers say have a shot at winning are:
• Kinney Zalesne, former deputy national finance chair at the Democratic National Committee and an official at the U.S. Justice Department during the Clinton administration, whose campaign is in second place in fundraising with $593,885 raised.
• Gordon Chaffin, a former congressional staffer whose campaign has raised $17,950.
• Kelly Mikel Williams, a podcast host and candidate for the Congressional Delegate seat in 2022 and 2024, whose 2026 campaign has raised $3,094 as of March 17.
building political support for the D.C. LGBTQ community. Among those he thanked was Paul Kuntzler, 84, one of the group’s founding members in January 1976, when it was initially named the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club.
Members voted to rename the group the Capital Stonewall Democrats in 2021.
Among the LGBTQ advocates who were honored at the event was Rayceen Pendarvis, who often co-hosted interviews with candidates for public office on the Team Rayceen YouTube channel. Pendarvis also served as emcee for the Capital Stonewall Democrats 50th anniversary event.
“Thank you everyone in this room who has done the work to make this world a better place,” Pendarvis said in opening remarks. “To all our prestigious activists in the room, all of our amazing politicians in the room who are doing the work, we love you and we honor you.”
Among the honorees in addition to Pendarvis was Malcolm Kenyatta, the Democratic National Committee’s vice chair who became the first openly LGBTQ person of color to win election to the Pennsylvania General Assembly in 2018.
Other honorees included Parker; Earl Fowlkes, founder of the International Federation of Black Prides; Vita Rangel, a transgender woman who serves as deputy director of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments; Heidi Ellis, director of the D.C. LGBTQ Budget Coalition; and Philip Pannell, longtime LGBTQ Democratic activist, Ward 8 civic leader, and longtime Capital Stonewall Democrats member.
The Blade reached out to the Zalesne, Chaffin, and Williams campaigns to determine their position on LGBTQ issues. As of late Wednesday, the Zalesne campaign was the only one that responded.
“Kinney believes LGBTQ rights are fundamental civil rights and central to what makes Washington, D.C. a strong and vibrant community,” a statement sent by her campaign says. “At a time when LGBTQ people (especially transgender and nonbinary neighbors) are facing escalating political attacks across the country, she believes the District must continue to lead in protecting dignity, safety, and freedom for all,” it says.
The statement adds, “Throughout her career in government, business, and nonprofit leadership, Kinney has worked alongside LGBTQ and queer advocates and leaders. She is committed to maintaining an active partnership with the community to make sure LGBTQ voices remain central to the District’s future.”
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Former At-Large Council member KENYAN MCDUFFIE (Blade photo by Michael Key)
ROBERT MATTHEWS (Photo courtesy of Matthews’s campaign website)
Gay priest credited with boosting church support for LGBTQ Catholics
Fr. Tom Oddo’s biographer speaks at Dignity Washington event
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
The author of a biography of a U.S. Catholic priest said to have advocated for support by the Catholic Church of gay Catholics in the early 1970s has called Father Thomas ‘Tom’ Oddo a little known but important figure in the LGBTQ rights movement.
Tyler Bieber, author of the recently published book “Against The Current: Father Tom Oddo And the New American Catholic,” told of Oddo’s life and work on behalf of LGBTQ rights at a March 22 talk before the local LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity Washington.
Among Oddo’s important accomplishments, Bieber said, was his role as a co-founder of the national LGBTQ Catholic group Dignity U.S.A. in 1973 at the age of 29.
But as reported in the prologue of his book, Bieber presented details of the sad news that Oddo died in a fatal car crash in 1989 at the age of 45 in Portland, Ore., where he was serving as the highly acclaimed president of the University of Portland, a Catholic institution.
“He was a major figure in the gay rights movement in the 1970s, an unsung hero of that movement,” Bieber told Dignity Washington members, who assembled for his talk in a meeting room at St. Margaret Episcopal Church near Dupont Circle, where they attend their weekly Catholic mass on Sundays.
“And Dignity U.S.A. saw intense growth in membership and visibility” during its early years under Oddo’s leadership, Bieber said. “The story of Father Tom and his contemporaries is a story largely untold in the history of the gay rights movement, but one worth knowing and considering,” he said.
As stated in his book, Bieber told the Dignity Washington gathering Oddo was born and raised in a Catholic family on Long Island, N.Y., and attended a Catholic high school in Flushing Queens. It was at that time when he developed an interest in becoming a priest, according to Bieber.
After studying at the University of Notre Dame and completing his religious studies he was ordained as a priest in 1970 and began his work as a priest in the Boston area, Bieber said. It was around that time, Bieber told the Dignity Washington audience, that gay Catholics approached Oddo to seek advice on how they should interact with the Catholic Church. It was also around that time that Oddo became involved in a group supportive of then gay Catholics that later became a Dignity chapter in Boston.
In a development considered unusual for a Catholic priest, Bieber said Oddo in 1973 testified in support of gay rights bill before a committee of the Massachusetts Legislature and collaborated with then Massachusetts gay and lesbian rights advocate Elaine Noble.
In 1982, at the age of 39, Oddo was selected as president of the University of Portland following several years as a college teacher in the Boston area, Bieber’s book states. It says he was seen as a “vibrant and capable administrator who delivered real results to his campus,” adding, “His magnetism was obvious. One student described him as ‘John Kennedyesque’ to the university’s student newspaper.”
Bieber said that although Oddo was less active with Dignity U.S.A. during his tenure as UP president, he continued his support for gay Catholics and what is now referred to as LGBTQ rights.
“For those that knew him prior to his term at UP, though, he represented something greater than an accomplished university administrator and educator,” Bieber’s book states. “He was a new kind of priest, a gay man living and ministering in a world set loose from tradition by the Second Vatican Council,” the book says. It was referring to the Vatican gathering of worldwide Catholic leaders from 1962 to 1965 concluding under Pope Paul VI that church observers say modernized church practices to allow far greater participation by the laity and opened the way for sympathetic consideration of gay Catholics.
Popular drag queen murdered in Va.
A gay man was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Saamel and Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate Sanchez-McCray, 42, was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray shot to death inside a home in Petersburg.
Sanchez-McCray’s brother, Jamal Mitchell Diamond, in a public statement the Washington Blade received from Equality Virginia and GLAAD, said Sanchez-McCray was not transgender as initial reports indicated.
“Our family has always embraced the fullness of who
he was. He used the names Saamel, Shyyell, and Mable interchangeably, and we honor all of them. There is no division within our family regarding how he is being represented — only a shared commitment to preserving his truth with love and respect,” said Diamond.
“He was also deeply committed to community work through Nationz Foundation, where he worked and completed multiple state-certified programs to support marginalized communities,” added Diamond. “That work meant a great deal to him.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212. FROM STAFF REPORTS
SHYYELL DIAMOND SANCHEZ-MCCRAY
(Screen capture via Tashiri Bonet Iman/YouTube)
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D.C. ready to embrace Trans Day of Visibility
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers. Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The National Council of Jewish Women
and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
MICHAEL KEY
Va. legislative session ends
The Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ended on March 14.
Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, but they did pass a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on whether to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Lawmakers also advanced House Bill 60, which would protect PrEP users from insurance discrimination.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has until April 13 to decide to pass, amend, or veto legislation before it goes back to the House of Delegates on April 22.
Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed the bill that sets the stage for the marriage amendment referendum. Voters will consider whether to “remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race;
and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
Equality Virginia has been working during this legislative cycle to urge lawmakers to allocate funding towards LGBTQ rights. The budget would expand funding for schools, competency training for the 988 suicide hotline, and funding to provide gender affirming care to LGBTQ youth.
“As the budget moves through con-
ference and the Reconvene Session approaches on April 22, Equality Virginia remains focused on ensuring our victories this session translate into durable protections,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Progress on marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections, and HIV care funding was essential, but Virginia must do more.”
SAM EPNER
Senate confirms Mullin to lead DHS
The U.S. Senate confirmed Markwayne Mullin as the next secretary of Homeland Security on Monday, as the agency continues to grapple with what lawmakers have described as a “never-ending” funding standoff, with Democrats attempting to withhold funding from one of the nation’s largest and most costly agencies.
Mullin — a Republican senator from Oklahoma, former mixed martial arts fighter, and plumbing business owner — was confirmed in a 54–45 vote. Two Democrats — U.S. Sens. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) — sided with Republicans in supporting his confirmation.
The new agency head is expected to follow the policy direction set by President Donald Trump, emphasizing stricter immigration enforcement. This includes proposals to support immigration agents at polling sites and to cut funding to socalled “sanctuary cities.”
Mullin replaces Kristi Noem, who was fired earlier this month following a widely scrutinized 2-day congressional hearing on Capitol Hill.
During the hearing, Noem faced intense questioning over her response to several crises, including the fatal shooting of two American citizens in Minneapolis by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, a $220 million border security advertising campaign that featured her on horseback near Mount Rushmore amid one of the largest federal workforce reductions in U.S. history, and the federal response to major natural disasters such as the July 2025 Texas floods and Hurricane Helene in 2024.
Noem had previously drawn criticism for a series of policy decisions in South Dakota that broadly focused on restricting the rights of LGBTQ individuals. In 2023, she signed House Bill 1080, banning gender-affirming medical care for
transgender minors. She also signed legislation and executive orders restricting trans athletes’ participation in women’s sports, as well as the state’s “Religious Freedom Restoration Act,” which critics argued enabled discrimination against LGBTQ individuals. Additionally, the state canceled contracts related to LGBTQ support services — including suicide prevention and health care navigation programs‚ and later agreed to a $300,000 settlement with trans advocacy group, The Transformation Project.
Despite her removal from DHS, Noem will remain in the Trump-Vance administration as a special envoy for the “Shield of the Americas,” an initiative aimed at promoting U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere, including efforts to counter cartel networks, reduce Chinese influence, and manage migration.
The new head of DHS has served in Congress since 2013, in both houses of
the federal legislature. While in the Senate and a member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Mullin has been a vocal critic of policies aimed at expanding LGBTQ inclusion. He led a group of lawmakers in urging the Administration for Community Living to reverse a rule requiring states to prioritize Older Americans Act services based on sexual orientation and gender identity, arguing the policy could have unintended consequences.
Mullin also makes history as the first Native American — and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation — to lead the Department of Homeland Security. He was also among the 147 Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results despite no evidence of widespread fraud, and was present in the U.S. House of Representatives chamber on Jan. 6.
JOE REBERKENNY
A scene from the 2025 Transgender Day of Visibility Rally on the Mall. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Trans-led HIV clinic in Va. struggles amid funding cuts
Founder of ETSI Health Clinic has lost home,
By JOE REBERKENNY | jreberkenny@washblade.com
Two years ago, Nyonna Byers, a transgender woman from Portsmouth, Va., founded Ending Transmission of Sexual Infections (ETSI) Health Clinic to support a community she saw struggling with rising HIV rates. Now, as costs continue to climb and funding for HIV healthcare initiatives is being cut across the United States, Byers says her transgender identity has made it harder to secure the financial support her clinic needs to survive.
Portsmouth, with just under 100,000 people, is right across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk.
“We’re an HIV-led organization here in Portsmouth, providing services throughout the Hampton Roads area,” Byers told the Blade. “As a trans-led organization— with me as the founder and executive director—I’ve received a lot of rejection when it comes to funding. That’s one of the main reasons why we’re struggling to keep the clinic open. Without funding, we can’t provide HIV treatment or care, and then we’re just a theoretical organization— we can’t be impactful in the community we serve.”
She said the data clearly shows a need for increased investment in HIV care in Portsmouth, but the response from leadership has not matched the urgency of the crisis.
“Portsmouth is one of the smallest cities with one of the highest HIV rates, and there are very few HIV-led organizations or clinics here. The need is urgent, but the response doesn’t match it. We’re doing the work on the ground, but we’re not getting the support to sustain it. That disconnect is what’s hurting people the most.”
That need, Byers explained, continues to grow as ETSI struggles to meet the financial demands of the life-saving work it provides.
Portsmouth has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in Virginia, with roughly 736.9 cases per 100,000 people—a rate that exceeds both state and national averages.
“Leaders like the mayor and city council don’t focus on public health or social health. They focus more on development— building the city up physically—rather than investing in the health of the people. I’ve applied for funding multiple times and been denied. Every time I’ve asked for resources, I’ve been turned away.”
When asked why, Byers said the answer felt clear to her.
“I honestly believe I was denied funding because I’m trans. I told the mayor I
car fighting to keep doors open
was going to go public with it, because it’s not fair. We’re on the ground doing the work to end HIV, and we’re still not getting the support we need. That’s not just frustrating—it’s harmful.”
While she said local support has been lacking, Byers noted that the state has stepped in—though the funding still falls short of what is needed to sustain the clinic long term.
ETSI Health Clinic was included as a recipient of funding in the Virginia 2027–2028 Senate budget, receiving $50,000 per year from the Virginia General Fund. Byers specifically credited State Sen. Lillie Louise Lucas with helping secure that funding, which she said did not come from city leadership.
Byers shared that she has given up a lot to keep ETSI afloat, but the costs just keep coming.
“I’ve worked a lot of contracts—jobs paying $30 to $40 an hour—and poured that money into my clinic. But the downside is that I’m struggling personally. I’ve lost cars, I’ve lost a house—I’ve lost a lot to keep this clinic going. This work has cost me almost everything.”
She added that the impact of federal policy shifts is also being felt locally. As the Trump-Vance administration continues to roll back what it has described as unnecessary “DEI” spending, Byers said those decisions are affecting clinics like hers.
There was a time when the clinic was able to receive funding from Sentara Cares, the philanthropic program of Sentara Health, a not-for-profit healthcare system based in Virginia and North Carolina, but now they can’t.
“We had funding from Sentara Cares for three years, and it helped keep us going. Then when DEI initiatives started getting rolled back, that funding stopped. I was told directly that because of federal policy changes, they couldn’t fund the clinic. I broke down during that meeting, because it felt like they were really saying they couldn’t support us because of who we are.”
That lack of funding is compounded by broader gaps in healthcare access in the region. Portsmouth—the ninth most populous city in Virginia—does not have a hospital.
“There’s very limited access to care in Portsmouth. We don’t even have a hospital—people have to be transported to Norfolk. We’ve had high rates of syphilis, and the health department is only open a few days a week. A lot of people don’t
trust it, and that leaves entire communities without care.”
Byers made it clear that this is more than a passion project for her—it is her life’s calling, and she would do nearly anything to keep it going.
“To be honest, I would go back to sex work before I let my clinic close. This is something I built from the ground up. I built this clinic with money I earned myself. I’m not going to let it disappear without a fight.”
She also pointed to gaps in education and outreach, which she says exacerbate HIV rates despite the availability of preventive measures.
“There’s almost no marketing or education about PrEP in the Hampton Roads
area. If you go to places like D.C. or Atlanta, you see billboards and campaigns— but here, you don’t see anything. If people don’t see it, they don’t know about it. That lack of awareness is putting people at risk.”
It is also a deeply personal fight, she explained.
“I’ve lost friends to HIV. People say you can’t die from HIV anymore, but you can if you’re not in care. I’ve seen it firsthand, and that’s what motivates me to keep going. HIV doesn’t have to be a death sentence—but without support, it can become one.”
The Blade reached out to Portsmouth’s mayor, city council, and city manager for comment but received no response.
NYONNA L. BYERS and HIV/AIDS activist JEANNE WHITE-GINDER (Photo courtesy of Byers)
by Amanda
SHAKESPEARE THEATRE COMPANY • KLEIN THEATRE MARCH 27 - APRIL 11
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Queer American in Israel talks Iran war
‘Alarms all day … sometimes multiple alarms an hour’
By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com
The Washington Blade last week spoke with Max Polonsky, a queer American who lives in Israel, about the Iran war and its impact on the country.
“It’s been tiring,” Polonsky told the Blade during a telephone interview from his home in Jaffa, an ancient port city with a large Arab population that is now part of Tel Aviv.
Polonsky grew up in Cherry Hill, N.J. He lived in D.C. for eight years before he moved to Israel in March 2022.
Israel and the U.S. on Feb. 28 launched airstrikes against Iran.
One of them killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iran in response launched missiles and drones against Israel and other countries that include Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan, and Cyprus.
An Iranian missile on March 1 killed nine people and injured 27 others in Beit Shemesh, an Israeli town that is roughly 20 miles west of Jerusalem. Shrapnel from an Iranian missile that struck a hair salon in Beit Awa, a Palestinian town in the West Bank, on Wednesday killed four women and injured more than a dozen others.
An Iranian drone that hit a command center in Kuwait on March 1 killed six U.S. soldiers: Sgt. Declan Coady, Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Amor, Capt. Cody Khork, Sgt. 1st Class Noah Tietjens, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan, and Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien. Another American servicemember, Sgt. Benjamin Pennington, died on March 8, a week after Iranian drones and missiles targeted the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia.
Iranian drones and missiles have damaged hotels, airports, oil refineries, and other civilian and energy infrastructure in the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, and elsewhere. Israel on Wednesday attacked Iran’s South Pars natural gas field in the Persian Gulf.
The Associated Press notes roughly 20 percent of the world’s crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz that connects the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Gas prices in the U.S. and around the world continue to increase because the war has essentially closed the strategic waterway to ship traffic.
The war also left hundreds of thousands of people who were traveling in the Middle East stranded.
The Blade on March 6 spoke with Mario, who had stopped in his native Lebanon while traveling from the U.S. to India for work.
Mario was about to board a flight at Rafic Hariri In -
ternational Airport in Beirut, the Lebanese capital, on Feb. 28 when the war began and authorities closed the country’s airspace. Mario is now back in the U.S.
Polonsky told the Blade there were “alarms all day … sometimes multiple alarms an hour, sometimes every hour, every two hours” on Feb. 28.
Israel’s Home Front Command typically issues warnings about 10 minutes ahead of an anticipated Iranian missile attack. Sirens then sound 90 seconds before an expected strike.
People in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and in other cities in central Israel have 90 seconds to seek shelter if a rocket or missile is fired from Lebanon or the Gaza Strip. (Hezbollah, an Iran-backed Shia militant group in Lebanon that Israel and the U.S. have designated a terrorist organization, launched rockets at the Jewish State after Khamenei’s death. Israel, in turn, continues to carry out airstrikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, killed upwards of 1,200 people when they launched a surprise attack against Israel from the Gaza Strip.) People who live close to Lebanon and Gaza have 15 seconds to seek shelter.
Polonsky has a safe room — known as a “mamad” — in his apartment. Polonsky also uses it as his home office
and a second bedroom.
He told the Blade the alerts in recent days have become less frequent.
“We’ll get maybe a handful of alarms during the day, maybe some at night,” said Polonsky.
Israel on June 12, 2025, launched airstrikes against Iran that targeted the country’s nuclear and military facilities. The subsequent war, which lasted 12 days, prompted the cancellation of Tel Aviv’s annual Pride parade. An Iranian missile destroyed Mash Central, the city’s last gay bar.
Iran on Oct. 1, 2024, launched upwards of 200 ballistic missiles at Israel. This reporter arrived in Israel three days later to cover the first anniversary of Oct. 7 and the impact the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip had on LGBTQ Israelis and Palestinians.
Polonsky admitted he doesn’t “know what to think” about the latest war against Iran.
“I don’t know what I think about the war,” he said. “Ultimately what happens is just not in my personal control: whatever Donald Trump, [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, the ayatollah, whoever is running Iran are going to organize and launch attacks and reach any deals is not anything I personally have any control over, so I try to just kind of let that aspect of it go as I’m living my life.”
Polonsky told the Blade he understands “there are very serious questions about how” the war started, and Congress’s role in it.
“Those are serious and valid, important questions,” he said. “And at the same time, the Iranian regime was bad.”
Polonsky noted Iran has supported and funded Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthi rebels in Yemen, and other groups “who were attacking Israel.” Polonsky added the Iranian government has “terribly oppressed their people.”
Iran is among the handful of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain punishable by death.
Reports indicate Iranian authorities killed upwards of 30,000 people during anti-government protests that began late last year. Sources with whom the Blade spoke said LGBTQ Iranians are among those who participated in the demonstrations.
“I’m not sad to see them pressured,” said Polonsky, referring to the Iranian regime.
He also described Khamenei as “a bad guy.”
“Him not being there is better,” said Polonsky.
Poland must recognize same-sex marriages from EU: court
Poland’s Supreme Administrative Court on March 20 ruled the country must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other European Union states.
The EU Court of Justice in Luxembourg last November ruled in favor of a same-sex couple who challenged Poland’s refusal to recognize their German marriage.
The couple, who lives in Poland, brought their case to Polish courts in 2019. The Supreme Administrative Court referred it to the EU Court of Justice.
“Today’s ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court clearly demonstrates that Poland, as a member state of the European Union, must comply with European Union law,” said Przemek Walas, advocacy manager for the Campaign Against Homophobia, a Polish LGBTQ advocacy group, in a statement. “The Supreme Administrative Court rightly upheld the interpretation of the Court in Luxembourg and indicated that the only way to implement this ruling is to allow the transcription of a foreign marriage certificate.”
“This ruling is a significant step towards marital equality, but certainly not sufficient,” added Walas. Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Austria, Slovenia, Malta, Greece, Sweden, Finland, and Estonia are the EU countries that have extended full marriage rights to same-sex couples. Poland — along with Romania, Bulgaria, and Slovakia — are the four EU countries with no legal recognition of same-sex couples.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS
MAX POLONSKY on his balcony in Jaffa (Photo courtesy of Max Polonsky)
FABIÁN BASABE
is a Florida State Representative.
The outrage economy is not the LGBTQ community
We
There is a simple truth I want to start with, because it matters and because it is too often lost in the noise.
I believe every human being deserves dignity.
I believe in individual freedom. I believe in treating people with respect. I believe adults should be able to live their lives openly, safely, and without harassment or fear.
That includes LGBTQ people. Always. But there is something else we need to say with the same moral clarity.
The outrage economy is not the LGBTQ community.
In recent months, as debates about schools, speech, and identity continue to dominate headlines, it has become increasingly clear how easily genuine conversations about dignity and freedom are drowned out b a profitable outra e c cle.
that is louder, faster, and more psychologically intense than any generation before them. Anxiety is rising. Depression is rising. Social isolation is rising. Bullying has migrated from the hallway to the phone, and it never stops.
Kids are being exposed to adult conversations at younger and younger ages, often without the maturity or support systems to process them. Here is the part that should concern everyone, regardless of politics. Our schools are not resourced for this reality.
We do not have enough counselors. We do not have enough psychologists. We do not have enough early childhood behavioral specialists. We do not have enough social workers. We do not have enough trained staff able to identify distress early and intervene appropriately.
Right now, too much of what passes for “LGBTQ news” is not about people’s lives, safety, or equality. It is about engagement. It is about clicks. It is about fundraising. It is about manufacturing the next emotional ashpoint. nd people are e hausted.
Most Americans are not waking up in the mornin loo in for a fi ht about lan ua e or labels. They are worried about rent. They are worried about insurance. They are worried about traffic. he are worried about whether their kids are safe and learning. They are worried about whether their paychecks still stretch to the end of the month.
The culture war is not most people’s daily life. It has become an industry.
And like any industry, it needs fuel. It needs con ict. t needs constant escalation. It needs the next headline that triggers the strongest reaction.
Social media algorithms reward exactly that. The loudest and most extreme reactions are amplified pushin the most sensa tional interpretation of any story to the top of everyone’s screen. That is why we keep seeing the same pattern: ordinary human experiences are repackaged as identity controversy.
celebrit re ects on not feelin tra ditionally feminine, and within hours it becomes a viral referendum on gender identity. A personal observation becomes a cultural battleground. The internet is told it must choose a side. This is not liberation. It is marketing. And it is not harmless.
Because while adults argue about language and labels online, real kids are struglin of ine.
Children today are growing up in a world
Florida, like the rest of the country, faces a serious shortage of youth mental health professionals. When children struggle, too often there is simply no one available to help early.
In many communities the need is obvious and urgent. Yet the conversation we keep getting is not about expanding mental health support, strengthening early intervention or helpin families navi ate difficult moments.
Instead we get a never-ending cycle of political con ict that ma es ever one more anxious and less able to hear one another. Let me be clear about something. Individuality is not the problem. People are complex. People do not fit neatl into stereot pes. Many never have.
A woman who does not feel like a “girly girl” is not a threat. A man who does not relate to traditional masculinity is not a threat. People exploring their identity is not a threat.
The real problem is the commercialization of identity.
When media outlets treat every celebrity quote as a cultural emergency, they are not helping LGBTQ people. They are feeding a machine that thrives on division. And that machine does not care who gets hurt.
It hurts trans people, because it turns their lives into content and controversy instead of treating them as human beings navigating deeply personal realities.
It hurts gay people, because it reduces an entire community to a political symbol rather than recognizing the diversity of real lives and experiences.
PETER ROSENSTEIN
is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
A surtax would end this war quickly
We fought a king once before and won
Today nearly 99% of us watch wars on television. We see news reports, and watch bombs exploding and people dying, somewhere else. The only people actually involved are those who volunteered to serve in the military, and the national guard. I am sure most of them didn’t join to fight illegal wars like the one the felon in the White House is waging in Iran. But I respect them, and their willingness to serve our country.
But we are in Iran, and the felon is now asking Congress for $200 billion more for this war. We have been spending over a billion dollars a day. Who is paying for this? Right now, no one. We are simply adding it to the national debt, for our children to worry about. I propose a 5 or 10% surtax on every person, to cover the cost of this illegal war. Just have it added to your tax bill. If Congress passed such a surtax, I am sure we would already be out of Iran, as people would rise up to stop this illegal and unnecessary war very quickly.
I am old enough to remember the Vietnam War, and what we did to try to end it. It took time, but the people spoke. I did not serve, but unlike the felon in the White House, was willing to. I got my draft notice, along with a subway token, and reported to Whitehall street in NYC. It was as the Arlo Guthrie song, “Alice’s Restaurant,” said it would be. I got there at 7 a.m. and at 3 p.m. was told they wouldn’t take me because of my bad knee, sending me home with my 1Y designation. My friends had given me a going away party the night before, and my mom cried. So, it was a little embarrassing when my friends found I was still home. But my mom was happy and cried again.
I had been to anti-war demonstrations in D.C. in front of the DOJ, and got tear gassed. I demonstrated in London, in Russel Square, in front of the American embassy. While so many more were involved in that war because of the draft, we knew then if a 5% surtax had been levied, it would have ended much faster. Seems we never learn.
Today there is no draft, and no surtax. It is taking a while for people to recognize the felon who opposes any help for people to pay for their healthcare, easily asks
for the $200 billion in funds for a totally unnecessary war. He closed USAID, which showed the United States in a positive light, helping people around the world, and that agency’s budget was only $25 billion. On top of not asking Americans to pay for this illegal war, he is giving tax breaks to millionaires, billionaires, and corporations, adding more to the national debt. What is the definition of insanity? Today it is clearly having voted for, and still supporting, the felon in the White House.
To make things worse and give us even less chance to stop his destruction of our democracy, the felon is trying to make it harder to vote. Millions of women who changed their names for marriage will not have a birth certificate with their current name on it, or a passport with their current name, allowing them to vote if the felon has his way. Reality is less than 50% of Americans even have a passport. The fact the Constitution gives states the right to set voting procedures, isn’t deterring the felon and his fascist cohorts, from trying to do it. He is doing it while we are losing American lives, the lives of heroes, who he has fighting a war he would have never signed up to fight himself. He is running it from the gold-leaf painted Oval Office, and from Mar-a-Lago, where he is golfing. He is a racist, sexist, homophobic, POS, working with the war criminal in Israel, causing a renewed spate of antisemitism and Islamophobia, and possibly creating World War III.
If you care about the future of the United States, you must stand up and speak out. We must defeat every Republican sycophant of his in the midterms — it’s the only way to let the felon know that we will not put up with his shit anymore. His grifting, and that of his family and appointees, must end. We the people, must not let him destroy 250 years of democracy, because he thinks he is a king. We fought a king once before and won. We will defeat him too. We will not let the felon implement the rest of Project 2025 and will take his name off everything he illegally plastered it on. He will be relegated to the trash heap of history, where he belongs, and we will reclaim our democracy for the next 250 years.
Introducing the Torchbearers Awards honoring queer, trans women and nonbinary people
Meet the Legends and Illuminators lighting new paths toward equality FROM STAFF REPORTS
The Torchbearers Awards are more than recognition— they are a continuation of legacy. They honor the quiet architects of progress in our community: those who organize, advocate, build, and protect, often without fanfare but always with purpose. Rooted in a belief in intentional recognition, this honor names those who carry our movements forward—those who make room for others, who remind us that change is both generational and generative. In a time marked by uncertainty and challenge, these leaders push forward with courage, clarity, and an unwavering commitment to expanding opportunity and equity.
ILLUMINATOR AWARDEES
1. Rep. Sharice Davids (she/her), (D, KS-03)
— U.S. House of Representatives
2. Greisa Martinez Rosas (she/her/ella)
— Executive Director, United We Dream
3. Paola Ramos (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent
4. Meagan A. Fitzgerald (she/her)
— Journalist & Correspondent
5. Jessica L. Lewis (she/her)
— Founder / Producer, Play Play DC
6. Savannah Wade (she/her)
— Founder, OAR Agency
7. Suhad Babaa (she/her)
— Filmmaker / Former Executive Director of Just Vision
8. Ashlee Davis (she/her)
— Global Head of Inclusive Outcomes, Ancestry
9. Jazmine Hughes (she/her)
— Journalist and Former Editor at New York Times Magazine
10. Queen Adesuyi (she/they)
— Policy Advisor & Organizer, ReFrame Health & Justice
11. Michele Rayner, Esq. (she/her)
— Civil Rights Attorney, State Representative (Florida House of Representatives)
12. Gaby Vincent (she/her)
— Sports/Cultural Commentator and Community Leader
13. Jenny Nguyen
— Founder & Owner, The Sports Bra
This year’s honorees reflect the full breadth of our community, spanning generations, backgrounds, identities, and industries. From Legends, with decades of leadership and having created pathways for others, to Illuminators, who are lighting new paths with creativity and innovation, each Torchbearer represents the power of intergenerational leadership and the strength found in our diversity. They are organizers, advocates, artists, policy leaders, healers, and changemakers whose lived experiences shape a shared vision for equity and liberation. This award is our love letter to queer and trans women and nonbinary people who carry the flame when it would
14. Denice Frohman (she/her)
— Independent Artist, Poet / Performer
15. Vida Rangel (she/her)
— Founder, Our Trans Capital
16. Roxanne Anderson (they/them)
— Executive Director, Our Space
17. Ann Marie Gothard (she/her)
— Director of Programs, Pride Live (Stonewall Visitor Center)
18. Diana Rodriques (she/her)
— Program Leader, Pride Live (Stonewall Visitor Center)
19. Wendi Cooper (she/her)
— Founder / Executive Director, Transcending Women
20. Toya Matthews (she/her)
— Executive Leadership, Transcending Women
21. Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (she/her)
— City of San Antonio, Texas
22. Charity Blackwell (she/her)
— Poet, LGBTQ Advocate & Community Leader
23. Wilhelmina Indermaur (she/her)
— Director of Communications, Tyler Clementi Foundation
24. Em Chadwick (she/her)
— CMO, For Them & Autostraddle
25. Kylo Freeman (they/he)
— CEO, For Them & Autostraddle
LEGEND AWARDEES
1. Sheila Alexander-Reid (she/her)
— Executive Director, PHL Diversity,
be easier to let it dim. To those who consistently show up, who use their voice and visibility and stand firm, often without recognition, so that others may live more freely and fully. The Torchbearers Awards celebrates not just what has been done, but the enduring spirit, responsibility, and collective care that ensure the work continues, and that the flame is always passed forward.
Co-Creators of the Torchbearers Awards: Shannon Alston, June Crenshaw, Heidi Ellis
— Interim Director of Thought Leadership & Senior Research Advisor, AARP
3. Leigh H. Mosley (she/her)
— Photographer / Educator, PhotoFlo Photography
4. Jenn M. Jackson, PhD (they/them)
— Assistant Professor of Political Science; Author & Columnist, Syracuse University
5. Jordyn White (she/her)
— COO, Washington Prodigy / VP of Leadership Development & Research, HRC Foundation
6. AJ Hikes (they/them)
— Chief Equity & Inclusion Officer, ACLU
7. RaeShanda Lias (she/her)
— Digital Creator, RL Lockhart
8. Donna Payne-Hardy (she/her)
— Educator, EEO Specialist, Former Leader at the Human Rights Campaign
9. Courtney R. Snowden (she/her)
— Principal, Blueprint Strategy Group
10. Gaye Adegbalola (she/her)
— Musician & Activist, Musician / Inductee of the Blues Hall of Fame
11. Cheryl A. Head (she/her)
— Independent Author, Novelist (Crime Fiction)
12. Letitia Gomez (she/her)
— The American LGBTQ+ Museum, Formerly of Voto Latino
13. Lynne Brown (she/her)
— Publisher, Washington Blade
14. Shay Franco-Clausen (She/Her/Ella/Queen)
— Political Strategist and Organizer
15. Melissa L. Bradley (she/her)
— Founder & Managing Partner, New Majority Ventures
16. Meghann Burke (she/her)
— Executive Director, NWSL Players Association
17. Victoria Kirby York, MPA (she/they)
— Director of Public Policy & Programs, National Black Justice Coalition
18. Joli Angel Robinson (she/her)
— CEO, Center on Halsted
19. Jeannine Frisby LaRue (she/her)
— CEO, Moxie Strategies
20. Alice Wu (she/her)
— Film Director (Saving Face, The Half of It) / Screenwriter
21. Storme Webber (she/her)
— Interdisciplinary Artist / Educator, University of Washington
22. Kim Stone
— CEO of the Washington Spirit, Washington Spirit
23. Mickalene Thomas
— American Visual Artist, Mickalene Thomas Studio
24. Erika Lorshbough (any/they/ she)
— Executive Director, interACT
25. J. Gia Loving (she/ella)
— Co-Executive Director, GSA Network
SHARICE DAVIDS
(Photo by Magdalena Papaioannou)
GREISA MARTINEZ ROSAS PAOLA RAMOS
MEAGAN A. FITZGERALD
JESSICA L. LEWIS
MICHELE RAYNER ESQ GABY VINCENT
JENNY NGUYEN
DENICE FROHMAN (Photo by Neal Santos)
VIDA RANGEL
SAVANNAH WADE (Photo by Anna Divinagracia)
SUHAD BABAA
ASHLEE DAVIS
JAZMINE HUGHES QUEEN ADESUYI
ROXANNE ANDERSON ANN MARIE GOTHARD and DIANA RODRIQUES
WENDI COOPER TOYA MATTHEWS
MAYOR GINA ORTIZ JONES CHARITY BLACKWELL WILHELMINA INDERMAUR
EM CHADWICK
KYLO FREEMAN
SHEILA ALEXANDER-REID CASSANDRA CANTAVE BURTON
LEIGH H. MOSLEY
JENN M. JACKSON, PHD
JORDYN WHITE
CHERYL A. HEAD LETITIA GOMEZ
LYNNE BROWN SHAY FRANCO-CLAUSEN
MELISSA L. BRADLEY
AJ HIKES
RAESHANDA LIAS
DONNA PAYNE-HARDY
COURTNEY R. SNOWDEN GAYE ADEGBALOLA
MEGHANN BURKE VICTORIA KIRBY YORK, MPA JOLI ANGEL ROBINSON
JEANNINE FRISBY LARUE
ALICE WU
STORME WEBBER KIM STONE
MICKALENE THOMAS (Photograph by Joshua Woods)
ERIKA LORSHBOUGH
J. GIA LOVING
‘Jonah’ an undeniably compelling but unusual memory play
Studio production draws on scenes from the past, present, and from imagination
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
Written by
Rachel Bonds,“Jonah”
is an undeniably compelling but unusual memory play with scenes pulled from the past, some present, and others seemingly imagined. Despite its title, the play is about Ana, a complicated young woman processing past trauma from the fragile safety of her usually quiet bedroom.
Studio Theatre’s subtly powerful production (through April 19) is finely realized. Director Taylor Reynolds smartly helms an especially strong cast and an inspired design team.
As Ana, out actor Ismenia Mendes radiates a quiet magnetism. She nails the intelligent woman with a hard exterior that sometimes melts away to reveal a warm curiosity and sense of humor despite a history of loss.
When we first meet Ana, she’s a scholarship student at a boarding school where she’s very much on the radar of Jonah, a sensitive day student (charmingly played by Rohan Maletira). Initially reluctant to know him, Ana soon breaks the ice by playfully lifting her shirt and flashing him. It’s a budding romance oozing with inexpe-
rience. And just like that, there’s a blast of white light and woosh, Jonah’s gone. Literally sucked out of an upstage door.
Clearly romanticized, the scenes between Ana and Jonah are a perfect memory captured in time that surely must be too good to be entirely true.
“Jonah,” a well-made nonlinear work, is pleasing to follow. Each of Bond’s scenes end with a promise that more will be revealed. And over its almost two hours, Ana’s story deftly unfolds in some satisfying ways, ultimately piecing together like
a puzzle.
Next, Ana is a college writing student. She’s alone in her dorm room when volatile stepbrother Danny (Quinn M. Johnson) visits the campus. Growing up in Detroit, Danny was Ana’s protector taking the brunt of her stepfather’s abuse after the untimely death Ana’s mother. Now, he’s sort of a clinging nuisance; nonetheless, they maintain a trauma rooted relationship.
And finally, 40ish and still guarded, Ana is a published writer. While working in her bedroom at a rural writer’s retreat, she’s joined by a nerdy stranger, Steven (Louis Reyes McWilliams). At first annoyed by this fellow writer’s presence, Ana is ultimately won over by his dogged devotion, sincerity, and kind words. What’s more, he’s not unacquainted with abuse, and he’s willing to delve into discussions of intimacy. Again, is it too good to be true?
Chronology be damned, these three male characters come and go, dismissed and recalled. It’s through them that Ana’s emotional journey is reflected. They pursue, but she allows them into her life in different ways for different reasons.
Bonds, whose plays have been produced at Studio in the past (world premiere of “The Wolfe Twins” and “Curve of Departure”), and Reynolds who scored a huge success directing Studio’s production of “Fat Ham” in 2023, are well matched. Reynolds’s successful intimate staging and obvious respect for the script’s serious themes without losing its lighter moments are testimony to that.
Essential to the play is Ana’s bedroom created by set designer Sibyl Wickersheimer. It’s a traditional kind of bedroom, all wooden furniture with a neat and tidy kind of farmhouse feel to it. There are two large window frames with views of darkness. It could be anywhere. The only personal items are writing devices and maybe the lived-in bedding, but other than that, not a lot indicates home.
QUINN M. JOHNSON and ISMENIA MENDES (Photo by Margot Schulman)
The Oscar-losing performance that’s too good to miss
‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You’ now streaming
By
JOHN PAUL KING
Now that Oscar season is officially over, most movie lovers are ready to move on and start looking ahead to the upcoming crop of films for the standouts that might be contenders for the 2026 awards race.
Even so, 2025 was a year with a particularly excellent slate of releases: Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” which became rivals for the Best Picture slot as well as for total number of wins for the year, along with acclaimed odds-on favorites like “Hamnet,” with its showcase performance by Best Actress winner Jessie Buckley, and “Weapons,” with its instantly iconic turn by Best Supporting Actress Amy Madigan.
But while these high-profile titles may have garnered the most attention (and viewership), there were plenty of lesser-seen contenders that, for many audiences, might have slipped under the radar. So while we wait for the arrival of this summer’s hopeful blockbusters and the “prestige” cinema that tends to come in the last quarter of the year, it’s worth taking a look back at some of the movies that may have come up short in the quest for Oscar gold, but that nevertheless deserve a place on any film buff’s “must-see” list; one of the most essential among them is “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You,” which earned a Best Actress Oscar nod for Rose Byrne. A festival hit that premiered at Sundance and went on to win international honors – for both Byrne and filmmaker Jane Bronstein – from other film festivals and critics’ organizations (including the Dorian Awards, presented by GALECA, the queer critics association), it only received a brief theatrical release in October of last year, so it’s one of those Academy Award contenders that most people who weren’t voters on the “FYC” screener list for the Oscars had limited opportunity to see. Now, it’s streaming on HBO Max.
Written and directed by Bronstein, it’s not the kind of film that will ever be a “popular” success. Surreal, tense, disorienting, and loaded with trigger-point subject matter that evokes the divisive emotional biases inherent in its premise, it’s an unsettling experience at best, and more likely to be an alienating one for any viewer who comes to it unprepared.
Byrne stars as Linda, a psychotherapist who juggles a busy practice with the demands of being mother to a child with severe health issues; her daughter (Delaney Quinn) suffers from a pediatric feeding disorder and must take her nutrition through a tube, requiring constant supervision and ongoing medical therapy – and she’s not polite about it, either. Seemingly using her condition as an excuse to be coddled, the child is uncooperative with her treatment plan and makes excessive demands on her mother’s attention, and the girl’s father (Christian Slater) – who spends weeks away as captain of a cruise ship – expects Linda to manage the situation on the home front while offering little more than criticism and recriminations over the phone.
Things are made even more stressful when the ceiling collapses in their apartment, requiring mother and child to move to a seedy beachside motel. Understandably overwhelmed, Linda turns increasingly toward escape, mostly through avoidance and alcohol; she finds her own inner conflicts reflected by her clients – particularly a new mother (Danielle Macdonald) struggling with extreme postpartum anxiety – and her therapy sessions with a colleague (Conan O’Brien, in a brilliantly effective piece of against-type casting) threaten to cross ethical and professional boundaries. Growing ever more isolated, she eventually finds a thread of potential connection in the motel’s sympathetic superintendent (A$AP Rocky) – but with her own mental state growing ever more muddled and her daughter’s health challenges on the verge of becoming a lifelong burden, she finds herself drawn toward an unthinkable solution to her dilemma.
With its cryptic title – which sounds like the punchline to a macabre joke and evokes expectations of “body horror” creepiness – and its dreamlike, disjointed approach, “If I Had Legs I’d Kick You” feels like a dark comedic thriller from the outset, but few viewers are likely to get many laughs from it. Too raw to be campy and too cold to invite our compassion, it’s a film that dwells in an uncomfortable zone where we are too mortified to be moved and too appalled to look away. Though it’s technically a drama, Bronstein presents it as a horror story, of sorts, driven by psychological rather than supernatural forces, and builds it on an uneasy structure that teases us with expectations of “body horror” grotesquerie while forcing us to identify with a character whose lack of (presumably) universal parental instinct feels transgressive in a way that is somehow even more disquieting than the gore and mutilation we imagine might be coming at any moment of the film.
My family voted for Trump and I cut off contact Now my father is ill and I don’t know what to do
By MICHAEL RADKOWSKY
Dear Michael, I stopped talking to my family last year because they all voted for Trump. It’s not like they didn’t know whom they were voting for — they’d already had four years of seeing him in action.
I decided that I couldn’t remain in contact with people whom I felt wanted to take away my rights as a gay man. That is what they essentially did by voting for Trump.
They had come to my wedding in 2012, they had welcomed my husband and me into their homes for the holidays for our entire relationship, so I couldn’t believe how little they actually cared about me and my community. I was profoundly hurt.
They’ve reached out but I have been too angry at their hypocrisy to engage in more than a perfunctory way. I miss them, sure, but as I’ve watched our community be attacked, I just get so angry that I don’t want to talk. I certainly don’t want to hear them justify bigotry and hatred.
Now one of my siblings has reached out to let me know that my father’s health is rapidly declining. I’m wondering if I should rethink my decision and reach out to him, maybe even visit, before he dies.
But then I think of ICE’s attack on our country and the removal of the Pride flag from Stonewall and I don’t want to talk to people who support what is happening to vulnerable, marginalized people and the LGBTQ community.
My father was a good father to me. Even when I first came out to him, he was loving and supportive. I can’t square his behavior personally toward me with his support of this regime. The hypocrisy makes me so angry. How could he purport to love me and then vote against my freedoms?
I would love some suggestions about how to square my two opposing viewpoints.
Michael replies:
Many years ago, a great mentor taught me that the one thing you can count on in a relationship is learning to tolerate disappointment: Both being a disappointment, and being disappointed in the other person. This is true for love relationships and it’s also true for other significant relationships. All of us are different in some major ways and so we are bound at times to disappoint our loved ones in major ways, and to be disappointed by them in major ways.
That is why I’m not a fan of purity tests. To expect that someone must think like you (much less vote like you) in order for you to have a relationship with them is unrealistic, impractical, and sometimes damaging.
Of course, a person may hold some be-
liefs that give you reason not to want to have any connection to them. But is that the case here?
From your description, your family has always been loving and supportive of you as a gay man. That is no small thing. They seem to care about you enough to have continued to reach out, even though you have stopped talking to them.
Perhaps they had some other reasons for voting as they did, other than to roll back LGBTQ rights and to attack immigrants.
Instead of wondering how they could be so hypocritical, how about talking with them and striving to understand their choices? I don’t know what they will say, and you may hear different answers from your various family members. But at least you will get some clarity, rather than presuming that they made their voting choices from a place of malice. Then you will be in a better position to decide if you want a relationship going forward. Another point to consider: Very few things are set in stone. Even if your family made their voting choices based on holding positions that you neither like nor respect, they may be open to shifting their views over time. One way to perhaps influence their thinking is by engaging with them, sharing your thoughts, and asking them to consider the possible consequences of their actions. If you choose to re-engage with them, two points to consider:
First, don’t expect that you will change their minds. You can advocate for what you want, but you have to let go of the results. Second, they are more likely to consider your points if you do not approach them from a judgmental, self-righteous stance.
Many years ago, when I was newly a vegetarian, I was eager to challenge and “educate” friends who weren’t following my dietary ideas. Guess what? It didn’t work. Then I got some great advice: A great way to influence others to consider eating fewer animals was to serve them delicious vegetarian food. The same point is true here. We can’t beat people over the head to agree with us. But if we approach them with some kindness, rather than with the certainty that we hold the moral high ground, we may help them see a bigger picture.
And sometimes, we too may see a bigger picture.
(Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with couples and individuals in D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and New York. He can be found online at michaelradkowsky.com. All identifying information has been changed for reasons of confidentiality. Have a question? Send it to michael@michaelradkowsky.com.)
ROSE BYRNE stars in ‘If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.’ (Image courtesy of A24)
People. Individual/Couples counseling with a volunteer peer counselor. GMCC, serving our community since 1973. 202-580-8861
gaymenscounseling.org No fees. Donation requested. washingtonblade.com/ classifieds
HANDYMAN
BRITISH REMODELING
Local licensed company with over 25 years of experience. Specializing in bathrooms, kitchens & all interior/exterior repairs. Drywall, paint, electrical, wallpaper, roofing & siding. Trevor 703-303-8699
LIMOUSINES
KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE
Your Personal Limo/Uber Service
WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?
Proper DC License & Livery Insured. Gay & Veteran Owner/Operator. Since 1987. 202-554-2471 www.KasperLivery.com
MOVING
GREAT SCOTT MOVING
Local & Long Distance. Get a Great Move at a Great Price! Call (301) 6992066
We’ve moved the Blade, Embassies & the Smithsonian’s piano collection! Let us move you!
RENT MT. PLEASANT, DC
SUNNY ENGLISH BASEMENT
apartment. 1 BR, living room, kitchen, 1 bath. Private entrance through a brick garden. Shared laundry in the basement. Available April 1. One-year lease minimum. $1000 sec.urity dep. Located in lively Mount Pleasant near bus and metro lines. The farmer’s market is every Saturday. Call 202-849-1531
RENT COLLEGE PARK, MD
FURNISHED 1BR - BSMT. YOU MUST SEE THIS
NEW FABULOUSLY RENOVATED semi-private furnished basement apartment located in North College Park steps from City dining, Mom’s and other stores, easy access major roadways & only 10 min walk to Metro. $1745.00 per month ***All Utilities Included.*** bit.ly/4r79Qje email: cprental@ymail.com MEN FOR MEN TALL, FAIRLY GOOD LOOKING, MALE ISO tall, muscular, UK or Aussie wellhung hunk, to use me and make me squirm, moan, and howl. Just relax and enjoy my service! Sincere responses, please text me. I will get back to you. Available 24/7. Call or text: 240-457-1292
PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY
This circa-1890 stately Grand Dame commands a premier position overlooking life on Logan Circle. With two sides of broad bay windows on 3 levels, bathing the home in natural light--each framing beautiful views of the park-and a coveted fenced and private courtyard, you’ll have a front row seat to this historic neighborhood in downtown DC. 6 bedrooms/3 baths and private entry to lower level living.
Andy Alderdice - 301.466.5898 - andy4homes@gmail.com
Long & Foster Real Estate 202-234-4100
Luxury Real Estate Specialist - Licensed in MD, DC & VA
LEGAL NOTICE
SUPERIOR
COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION 2026 ADM 000240
Cecelia Anderson, Name of Decedent
Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs Syreeta Anderson, whose address is 844 Xenla St., SE, Washington, DC 20032 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Cecelia Anderson who died on December 1, 2025 without a Will and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC. 20001, on or before 09/27/2026. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or to the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before 09/27/2026, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.
Date of first publication: 03/27/2026
Name of Newspaper and/or periodical: Washington Blade /s/Syreeta Anderson, 202-468-2377 844 Xenia St SE, Washington DC 20032 /s/Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills.
PLACE YOUR AD ONLINE AT:
BODYWORK
THE MAGIC TOUCH
Swedish, Massage or Deep Tissue. Appts. Low Rates, 24/7, In-Calls. 202-486-6183
CLASSIFIEDS and your ad will appear in print & online! If you need assistance, please email the text & image to: classifieds@washblade.com or call 202-747-2077 x 8092 leave a message!
