Washingtonblade.com, Volume 52, Issue 24, June 11, 2021

What a difference a year makes!

City prepares for post-COVID Pride, PAGES 47-58

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VOLUME 52 ISSUE 24 ADDRESS PO Box 53352 Washington DC 20009 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 NEWS REPORTER CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com ext. 8083 REPORTER & INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITOR MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com POP CULTURE REPORTER JOHN PAUL KING PHOTO EDITOR MICHAEL KEY mkey@washblade.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS PRINCE CHINGARANDE, DUNIA ORELLANA, REPORTAR SIN MIEDO, PARKER PURIFOY, PETER ROSENSTEIN, MARK LEE, LATEEFAH WILLIAMS, KATE CLINTON, KATHI WOLFE, ERNESTO VALLE, YARIEL VALDÉS GONZÁLEZ, LYNARE ROBBINS, RACHAEL ESPINET, PHILIP VAN SLOOTEN, KATLEGO K. KOL-KES, VICTOR MAUNG, KAELA ROEDER, TREMENDA NOTA, ALBERTO J. VALENTÍN, ORGULLO LGBT. CO, MAYKEL GONZÁLEZ VIVERO CREATIVE DESIGN/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 ACCT. EXECUTIVE JOE HICKLING jhickling@washblade.com ext. 8094 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 ext. 8075. Distributed by MediaPoint, LLC

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Clark Ray remembered as loving father, husband, friend ongtime city official was advocate for student athletes and adoption

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

and efficiently, said adro, who called ay one of the best appointments ayor Clark Ray, a longtime LGBTQ rights advocate who worked for four D.C. mayors and Williams made. most recently served as executive director of the District of Columbia State Athletics ormer D.C. olice t. Brett arson, who headed the department s B iaison Association, died at his home on Saturday, June 5, of unknown causes. nit, said ay served as a eserve olice fficer assigned to then ay and esbian His husband, Aubrey Dubra, said Ray passed away in his sleep and the D.C. Medical iaison nit from to .

E aminer s ffice, under standard procedures for une plained deaths, conducted an “He was a friend, colleague, and mentor to all of us and made a huge difference in autopsy and the results were still pending. the lives of more people than he will ever know,” Parson said in a statement. ews of ay s passing, which first surfaced in aceboo postings on Saturday, In 2010, Ray ran drew dozens of messages of unsuccessfully for an at large sympathy from friends and seat on the D.C. Council political associates who have against then incumbent Phil known Ray through his more Mendelson in the September than 20 years of political Democratic primary. and local government A native of Arkansas, Ray involvement in D.C. worked in the administration ormer ayor incent of President Bill Clinton Gray appointed Ray in 2012 as director of strategic as executive director for the scheduling and advance for then newly created District ipper ore, wife of ice of Columbia State Athletics President Al Gore, in the Association, an arm of the ffice of the ice resident, D.C. public school system that from . jointly works with D.C. charter Ray later served as chief schools and private parochial of staff to Tipper Gore schools to coordinate as part of the Al Gore for school athletics programs, President Campaign from including high school sports through the competition in soccer, presidential election. football, cross country track Ray graduated from and other team sports.

Smackover High School in D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser Smac over, r ., in , retained him for that position before receiving a bachelor’s when she too office in , degree in education from and Ray held the position at the University of Arkansas the time of his passing. at ayetteville in . e In a statement released received a master’s degree on Saturday, Bowser praised in Education and Sports CLARK RAY passed away in his sleep on Saturday.

Ray for taking “extraordinary Administration Management measures” during the at Temple University in C ID pandemic to hiladelphia in . support the city’s student athletes and help the school athletics programs return to a is in edIn page shows that his long involvement in the field of sports and safe place. recreation began during his studies at Temple when he served as a graduate assistant “We are heartbroken over the passing of Clark Ray,” Bowser said in her statement. at the university’s Sports Medicine Department and worked for the Philadelphia “Clark was a loving father, husband, and friend who impacted so many lives and will Phillies and Philadelphia Eagles professional sports teams. be missed greatly,” the mayor said.

Clar was the love of my life and a terrific father to our four children, said Dubra. or more than two decades, he served in a number of roles advancing recreation “He believed in adoption of D.C. children, not an international adoption,” Dubra said. and athletics to build a sense of community,” the mayor’s statement says. “Serving “He was an advocate for making sure that D.C. kids had homes. And that was one of four mayors, Clark’s legacy will include his tireless work to establish the D.C. State his big things that he wanted to support,” Dubra said. “And I supported him in that thletic ssociation as well as the DCS all of ame. process as well because we have four wonderful boys. And they’re all doing very well.

Dubra told the Blade he and Ray had four adopted sons between the ages of nine And we’ve been very, very fortunate to be able to share our home and our lives with and 21. The couple and their family lived in the 16th Street Heights neighborhood in them.”

Northwest D.C ay is survived by his husband, ubrey Dubra and his sons ahmeer, a on, ay s in edIn page shows his earlier wor includes service from as amar, and ichard or ic y, age . director of the D.C. Department of ar s and ecreation and from as Dubra said that to highlight Ray’s dedication to athletics and its positive impact senior director of strategy for the Greater Washington Sports Alliance. He served as on the city’s young people, he accepted an offer to hold Ray’s funeral service and director of external affairs for the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission from viewing at the Southeast Tennis and Learning Center in Anacostia at 700 Mississippi 2004 to 2007.

Ave., S.E. on Saturday, June 12. is in edIn page says he served from to as an official with the ffice of e said a public viewing will ta e place at the center from a.m., at which time eighborhood Services in the E ecutive ffice of then D.C. ayor nthony Williams. a service in celebration of Ray’s life will begin.

Gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and longtime Shaw neighborhood Dubra said plans for a burial were still being worked out as of late Monday. He said activist Alex Padro said he got to know Ray at that time in Ray’s role as Williams’ Ward he and others close to Ray were also working on plans for establishing a foundation in 2 coordinator.

Ray’s name to support foster care and adoption programs in Washington, D.C. Clar was result oriented, always loo ing for a way to get something done uic ly 0 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • JUNE 11, 202 1 • LO CA L NE WS

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Del. governor issues Pride proclamation

Delaware Gov. JOHN CARNEY was criticized for failing to issue a Pride proclamation.

Delaware Gov. John Carney proclaimed June as LGBTQ+ Pride month.

The proclamation urges citizens to observe this month by “celebrating Pride Month at appropriate events and ceremonies across the state.”

The Delaware Department of Human Resources released an action plan that includes unifying a statewide gender identity and policy procedure and allowing preferred names and pronouns whenever legal and applicable, such as the state job application process.

“We are making it clear that we not only value a diverse workforce, but that diversity includes sexual orientation, gender identity or expression,” Carney said in a statement. “These state efforts to build

an LGBTQ+ inclusive workplace is not just the right thing to do; it also sends a signal loud and clear – for current employees, future employees, and the Delaware community at large – that the State of Delaware is an employer that is inclusive and equitable, where diverse lived experiences are encouraged and celebrated.”

Gov. Carney failed to issue the Pride proclamation in 2018 after doing so in 2017, prompting backlash from the community. His communications director Jonathan Starkey said the lack of action was not meant to diminish the significant contributions of Delaware s LGBTQ community,” according to a 2018 Washington Blade article.

ESTHER FRANCES

Del. lawmakers seek to update LGBTQ language

Rep. KENDRA JOHNSON is sponsoring a bill to update LGBTQ language in Delaware.

(Photo public domain)

Delaware lawmakers are working to update the wording of the state s non discrimination laws by changing the outdated language of B definitions.

House Bill 224 sponsor Rep. Kendra Johnson (D Bear) introduced the bill earlier this month and it is scheduled to move through committee within the next 12 days. The bill was originally introduced in April as House Bill 155 and passed the Delaware ouse of epresentatives, but was refiled because of a technical error in the title.

The bill would remove exclusive words and broaden definitions, such as including more than heterose uality, homosexuality and bisexuality in sexual orientation.

“I think that at a more personal level and at a community level as well, it s necessary and it s inclusive, ohnson said. nd isn t that what we re all striving for, a more inclusive

community?”

Previous opposition to bill 155 was mainly centered around questions seeking clarity, Johnson said.

“I understand that people are asking questions from the space that they live in, so one of the things that someone as ed me as it relates to gender identity, it s li e Well what stops the person from deciding that their identity is this thing today and it s something else tomorrow ohnson said. I don t necessarily see that as opposition, I see it as someone who lives in a particular space has these assumptions about gender identity and sexual orientation and is see ing to understand, and if you re open, you re going to get it.

Johnson noted that the chances of the bill being defeated during the Senate vote are low because of its inclusivity and modern updates to the language.

It s really about definitions, it s about updating our code to be more re ective of what life is like today, plain and simple,” Johnson said. “As we continue to evolve as people and evolve with our thoughts, our language, all of those things have to evolve with us.”

ESTHER FRANCES

E gays hold rally on Washington

onument grounds

Spea ers claim faith in esus helped them leave

B

identities

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

About 200 people gathered at the outdoor Sylvan Theater on the grounds of the Washington Monument on June 5, for a rally and march to promote the debunked belief that people can change their sexual orientation from gay to straight through faith in Jesus Christ.

The event, which organizers called Freedom March, was led by an organization called CHANGED, which says on its website that it provides support for men and women who are sexually attracted to the same sex or who are “uncertain of their gender” who seek a transformation away from those characteristics. ore than a do en people who self identified as having changed their se ual orientation or gender identity spo e on the Sylvan heater stage with a four member band playing background music. A male vocalist sang religious hymns, creating an atmosphere of an Evangelical Christian church service.

It is not about going from gay to straight, said a man who identified himself as a minister named Joshua. “It is about going from lost to saved.” mong the spea ers were en Williams and Eli abeth Woning, who were identified as co founders of C ED or the Changed movement.

I m a father of four and I m a former B identified person, Williams told the gathering.

Like many of the speakers, Williams offered a prayer in which he said Jesus Christ saved him and many others by guiding them away from temptations leading them to same se attractions they do not want.

“I pray Father that you would wake up the people that are supposed to be crossing this path this afternoon,” he said. “I pray that those that are trapped, those that are sad, those that are depressed, those that don t now you personally, that you would have them get up from whatever they re doing and come through here this afternoon.

Williams added, Would you offer a brand new life to every person who s confused about their identity, who s confused about their se uality, who feels that there are labels placed upon them that they can t remove but don t want Organizers announced plans upon the conclusion of the speakers to walk from the Sylvan heater around the Washington onument grounds to the incoln emorial re ecting pool and back to the theater, where the event would end.

Among those attending the event as observers were Wayne Besen, executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Truth Wins Out, which since 2006 has waged public awareness campaigns opposing the e gay movement and ared Di on, an official with Conversion Therapy Survivors, a group that provides support for people who have experienced what 0 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • JUNE 11, 202 1 • LO CA L NE WS

the group says were harmful effects of conversion therapy.

Dixon, who describes himself as a gay man in a fulfilling relationship with another gay man for the past nine years, said he entered conversion therapy back in 2011 as a year old college student at the urging of his parents, who raised him in a religious setting.

About 200 people gathered on June 5 for a rally to promote the misguided, debunked theory that gays He said the conversion therapy can change their sexual orientation. caused him to suffer depression (Blade photo by Michael Key) that led to a suicide attempt.

He said he helped found Conversion Therapy Survivors, known as CT Survivors, after several years of therapy with LGBTQ supportive therapists who helped him fully accept himself “for who I am.”

Besen said he believes his group has been successful in debunking what he and other B advocacy organi ations have long pointed out that attempts to change someone s se ual orientation or gender identity through so called conversion therapy or reparative therapy are strongly opposed as being harmful by all of the nation s ma or medical and mental health professional associations, including the American Psychiatric Association and the American Medical Association.

Besen said widespread reports of how conversion therapy, including religious oriented counseling programs see ing to change people s same se attractions have led to serious mental health problems, including suicide, led to the disbanding of several prominent e gay organi ations, including E odus International about five years ago.

But Besen said CHANGED, the group that organized the June 5 event on the Washington onument grounds, re ects what he believes is an effort to revive the e gay movement through the use of sophisticated social media campaigns that he says will put many vulnerable people, especially young LGBTQ people, at risk.

What we re witnessing here is disturbing to me, Besen said. What we re loo ing at is a slick rebranding and rebooting of the same toxic message,” he told the Washington Blade.

CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Dupont Underground ‘Royals’

Blade gallery of D.C. drag opens with a performance (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

The Washington Blade and Dupont Underground opened the exhibition “DC’s Royals: A Celebration of Drag” on Friday. The event included photos, video and a live drag performance. The exhibit can be viewed through June 27.

For tickets and more information, visit washingtonblade.com/royals.

1 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • JUNE 11, 202 1

IF YOU WANT A SINGING CAREER, STAY AWAY FROM SECONDHAND SMOKE.

Ellie, Age 57 Her partner, Karen Florida

Ellie’s severe asthma attacks were triggered by secondhand smoke at work.

She and her partner have to live with its effects forever. If you or someone you know wants free help to quit smoking, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW. #CDCTips

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IDS

ay men terrified by mysterious new fatal disease

If this doesn t rouse you to rage and action, we may have no future on this earth

By KAREN OCAMB

(Editor’s note: This is part two of a four-part series on AIDS@40. Next week, part three looks at Rep. Henry Waxman’s congressional hearing in LA and the creation of AIDS Project Los Angeles.)

close to death and e tinction. any of us are dying or already dead.

Before the CDC s first report on IDS, there was news from the ew or ative, a oo many gay men were scared shitless. When gay rontiers ews aga ine re biwee ly gay newspaper published in ew or City from December until anuary published ramer s article as their arch cover story, bar owners threw the publication , . It was the only gay paper in the city during the early part of the IDS epidemic out, lest it unnerve patrons. eanwhile, gay men wasted away and died, often alone, and it pioneered reporting on IDS. sometimes stranded on a gurney in a hospital hallway sometimes if luc y with family or n ay , , the newspaper s medical writer awrence D. ass wrote an article friends crying at their bedside as in the intimate photo ta en by herese rare as her friend entitled Disease umors argely nfounded, based on information from the Centers for IDS activist David irby died.

Disease Control and revention scotching rumors of a gay cancer. one of this was new or startling to ottlieb or fellow IDS researcher and co author, ast wee there were rumors that an e otic new disease had hit the gay community in Dr. oel Weisman. ew or . ere are the facts. rom the ew or City Department of ealth, Dr. Steve hillips ay San rancisco Chronicle reporter andy Shilts dubbed Weisman the dean of e plained that the rumors are for the most part unfounded. Each year, appro imately to Southern California gay doctors in his IDS opus, nd the Band layed n. In , as cases of infection with a proto oa li e organism, neumocystis carinii, are reported in a general practitioner in a orth ollywood medical group, Weisman treated a number ew or City area. he organism is not e otic in fact, it s ubi uitous. But most of us have a of patients with strange diseases, including a gay man in his s who presented with an natural or easily ac uired immunity, ass wrote. e added egarding the inference that old editerranean man s cancer, aposi s sarcoma. a slew of recent victims have been gay men. . . . f the In , Weisman opened his own Sherman a s cases . . . only five or si have been gay. practice with Dr. Eugene ogols y and identified Eighteen days later, on une , , the world three seriously ill gay patients with strange fevers, turned when the CDC published an article by Dr. dramatic weight loss from persistent diarrhea, odd ichael ottlieb in orbidity and ortality Wee ly rashes, and swollen lymph nodes, all seemingly eport W on IDS symptoms, including related to their immune systems. e sent two of cytomegalovirus C infection and candidal those patients to ottlieb, a young C edical mucosal infection, found in five gay men in os Center immunologist studying a gay male patient ngeles. By then, , mericans were already with pneumocystis pneumonia and other similar infected, according to later reports. mysterious symptoms, including fungal infections ottlieb s CDC report was pic ed up that same and low white blood cell counts. day by the os ngeles imes, which published a n top of these two cases, Shilts wrote, another story entitled utbrea s of neumonia mong ay men had appeared at Weisman s office that year ales Studied. slew of similar reports followed and with strange abnormalities of their lymph nodes, on une the CDC set up the as orce on aposi s the very condition that had triggered the spiral of Sarcoma and pportunistic Infections to figure ailments besetting Weisman and ogols y s other out how to identify and define cases for national The photo of a dying DAVID KIRBY in Ohio in 1990 by photographer Therese Fare. (Royalty Free LIFE.com) two, very sic patients. surveillance. n uly , the CDC published another Weisman later recalled to the Washington ost W on pneumocystis carinii pneumonia C that what this represented was the tip of the iceberg. y sense was that these people and aposi s Sarcoma S among identified gay men in California and ew or . he were sic and we had a lot of people that were potentially right behind them. ew or imes story that day are Cancer Seen in omose uals stamped the here were other missed signs, such as the CDC getting increasing re uests for disease as the gay cancer.

ID ay elated Immune Deficiency came ne t. In the entamidine, used to treat pneumocystis pneumonia. ottlieb says that after his first new eagan Bush administration, dominated by homophobic evangelical advisers such report, the CDC s Sandra ord confirmed that she was sending increasing shipments of as ary Bauer, funding to investigate the new disease was scarce. entamidine around the country. But I m not sure any infectious disease doctor there wo years later, the ew or imes finally put IDS on the front page, below the fold, new or investigated why they were seeing a run on entamidine or as ed what that with a ay , headline that read E C IE C S IDS B E . meant, ottlieb told the os ngeles Blade. ater entamidine became the second line I I . By then , cases of IDS had been reported, with IDS deaths in the therapy for pneumocystis, after Bactrim. nited States percent of the cases were among gay and bise ual men percent entamidine caused idney problems, so we didn t li e it. Eventually, aerosoli ed were in ection drug users percent were aitian immigrants percent accounted for entamidine became one of the preventatives. We didn t reali e at first that pneumocystis people with hemophilia and percent were unidentified. would happen in multiple episodes. i e a patient would have pneumocystis, we treated, But ealth and uman Services ssistant Secretary Dr. Edward . Brandt r. told it would clear and they d go home for a month and then they d get it again. We didn t reporters that no supplemental budget re uest had been made to Congress. We have learn until later that we had to do something to prevent recurrences. nd that s where seen no evidence that IDS is brea ing out from the originally defined high ris groups. aerosoli ed entamidine came in doing a monthly breathing treatment.

I personally do not thin there is any reason for panic among the general population, he hough being gay was highlighted as a high ris factor, race was largely left out of said. reports until , despite the fact that ottlieb s fifth patient in his une , CDC ays in denial seemed to accept feigned governmental concern. thers were deathly article was Blac . ottlieb remembers him as a previously healthy year old gay Blac afraid. he S news conference was ust wee s and more cases after the arch balding man named andy, referred to him in pril by a West Side internist. publication of playwright arry ramer s infamous screed on the cover of the ew or But andy s race was not included in that first report, nor was the omission caught ative , and Counting by the W editors, probably, ottlieb speculates, because they were focused on If this article doesn t scare the shit out of you, we re in real trouble. If this article doesn t collecting disease data while they struggled to save their dying patients. ottlieb views rouse you to anger, fury, rage, and action, gay men may have no future on this earth. ur the absence of race as an omission and as an error because demographic data is good continued e istence depends on ust how angry you can get, ramer wrote. I repeat form as a doctor because it is important. If race was not included in the W , it was an ur continued e istence as gay men upon the face of this earth is at sta e. nless we fight unconscious omission. for our lives, we shall die. In all the history of homose uality we have never before been so

1 2 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • JUNE 11, 202 1 • NAT I O NA L NE WS

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J UNE 1 1 , 2 0 2 1 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 3

rlando still in the healing phase assacre at

B

years after ulse

nightclub illed

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

Saturday mar s five years since a gunman illed people inside the ulse nightclub rlando, la. remembrance ceremony will ta e place at the site, which is now an interim memorial. number of other events to honor the victims will ta e place in rlando and throughout Central lorida over the coming days.

We re still very much in the healing phase and trying to find our way, ulse owner Barbara oma told the Washington Blade on uesday during a telephone interview. he massacre at the time was the deadliest mass shooting in modern .S. history. early half of the victims were B uerto icans. he massacre also spar ed renewed calls for gun control. oma told the Blade that she e pects construction will begin on a “Survivor s Wal at the site by the end of the year. museum which she described as an “education center that will “tal about the history of the B community and its struggles for in

The interim memorial at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on May 31, 2020. (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

the last century or so about why safe spaces were important to this community and what happened at ulse and the global response to it will be built a third of a mile away.

“We really feel it is important to never forget what happened at ulse and to tell the story of that, said oma. oma noted the one SE oundation of which she is the e ecutive director met with representatives of the ribute useum and the lahoma City ational emorial and useum to discuss the memorial. oma when she spo e with the Blade ac nowledged the plans have been critici ed. “ his ind of opposition is not uni ue to these ind of pro ects, she said. “It s ust important to now that really what we re trying to do is ma e sure what happened is never forgotten and those lives were never forgotten, added oma. oma on uesday declined to comment on the lawsuits that have been filed against her, her husband and the one SE oundation in the wa e of the massacre. he Blade this wee spo e with E uality lorida CE adine Smith, state ep.

Carlos uillermo Smith D rlando and other activists and elected officials in lorida and uerto ico who were part of the immediate response to the massacre.

E uality lorida raised millions of dollars for survivors and victims families. CE adine Smith on uesday told the Blade during a telephone interview that E uality lorida in the massacre s immediate aftermath pledged to honor the victims “with action by uprooting hatred at its source and from that time we have invested deeply in safe and healthy schools.

“Schools are a shared cultural e perience where the attitudes of ignorance and fear and animosity and violence towards others either get challenged or encouraged, said Smith. “ ive years later I loo at how far this wor has come and at the same time,

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I m very aware of the bac lash that we are facing, particularly in our schools with laws targeting trans youth specifically. epublican lorida ov. on DeSantis on une signed a bill that bans transgender athletes from participating in high school and college sports teams that correspond with their gender identity. he governor the following day vetoed funding that activists say would have funded programs for ulse survivors and homeless B youth.

Carlos uillermo Smith, a gay man who represents portions of rlando, on uesday described DeSantis as “callous. “ he governor s actions are a reminder that five years after the attac at ulse nightclub, we have a lot of wor to do to push bac against homophobia and transphobia, said Carlos uillermo Smith. “ he rlando community is very supporting and accepting of the B community, but when you see what s happening at the overnor s ansion in allahassee, you reali e that there s a lot of wor to be done. edro ulio Serrano, associate director of Waves head, an B service organi ation in uerto ico, described the massacre s impact in the .S. commonwealth as “permanent in our collective memory. Serrano also noted violence against trans uerto icans remains rampant.

“We are now the epicenter of anti trans violence in the .S. and its territories, said Serrano. “ fter five years, we still confront this hatred that doesn t seem to stop. We will continue to fight until all of us are safe. ony ima, a long time lorida based activist who is currently CE of rianna s Center, an organi ation that serves trans women of color in lorida, the South and uerto ico, helped organi e vigils and blood drives in the days after the massacre.

“We new how important it was to aid our family in rlando in this immediate crisis, ima told the Blade on onday. “ rlando and South lorida are intrinsically connected. We often share resources in nightlife, events, advocacy and a lot of the same people so I thin there was a natural synergy there. ima, li e adine Smith and Carlos uillermo Smith, sharply critici ed DeSantis for signing the anti trans bill and for vetoing funds for ulse survivors and homeless B youth. ima also lamented the lac of progress on gun control. gunman on eb. , , illed people at ar ory Stoneman Douglas igh School in ar land, la. ima told the Blade there have been two deadly mass shootings in South lorida in recent days.

“We have a huge problem when it comes to gun control in this country, and sadly five years later we haven t made a whole lot of progress, he said. elipe Sousa a aballet is the senior specialist for inclusion, diversity and e uity for the city of rlando s ffice of ulticultural ffairs. e is also ayor Buddy Dyer s B liaison. rlando City all on une raised the ride ag in commemoration of ride month.

Sousa a aballet noted the fountain in a e Eola ar in downtown rlando was illuminated in the colors of the trans ride ag in commemoration of the International ransgender Day of isibility. rlando in became the first city in lorida to include ational B Chamber of Commerce certified businesses in its municipal contracting and procurement programs. “ ll of that is part of that bigger call to action, which is we want to honor the , said Sousa a aballet. “But we also want to with action by ma ing the city an even more welcoming place for all.

Sousa a aballet, Carlos uillermo Smith and adine Smith all told the Blade the way that rlando, Central lorida, the country and the world responded to the massacre remains a source of pride.

“I thin about how many messages there were in the aftermath that called on the worst instincts in people to be fearful of each other, to hate people as a group, to cower and to hide and I will never forget and have been changed by the rlando community, how the nation and in fact globally people responded to the absolute opposite, said adine Smith. “ hat is a light that I hold on to. oma echoed adine Smith.

“We hope that our goal is to create that beacon of light that can come out of such dar ness, said oma. “Dar ness is a really dangerous place to get stuc in and so while we all wish what happened on une never happened, it did and it s now our moral and social responsibility to do something with that and that for me is creating light and change from what we all endured.

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In seesaw experience, LGBTQ fed’l workers enjoy new openness Pride month celebrated again after neglect in Trump years

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

With Pride month underway and the coronavirus pandemic getting under control, LGBTQ federal workers are expressing a new sense of ebullience about being able to celebrate openly this season after a more muted experience during the Trump administration.

The new excitement about the openness is the latest chapter ANTHONY MUSA, chair of Pride in Federal Service for LGBTQ for LGBTQ federal federal employees, praised the Biden administration’s support employees, who have of Pride month. (Photo courtesy Musa) a unique seesaw experience of having alternating periods of support mixed with periods when the leadership is disengaged or even hostile.

Anthony Musa, chair of Pride in Federal Service for LGBTQ federal employees, said the change in feeling to “a sense of acceptance” is in no small part the result of outreach from the top in the Biden administration.

“There is a strong push by the White House, especially lately in the past couple of weeks to really reach out directly to LGBTQ+ federal employees and ensure that Pride month is celebrated and that employees are supported by both the administration and the political appointees within the individual departments and agencies,” Musa said.

One example of the Biden administration reaching out, Musa said, is the White House ffice of ublic Engagement coming to affinity groups for B federal wor ers and offering assistance for promotion and coordination of Pride celebrations.

It s not ust ride events. usa said the .S. ffice of ersonnel anagement has been conducting periodic calls about the ederal ealth Benefits rogram to highlight opportunities for LGBTQ families and health care for transgender and non-binary people.

The Biden administration’s outreach to LGBTQ employees is visible in other ways. For the first time, Energy Secretary ennifer ranholm last wee raised the rogress ride ag outside of her department s head uarters in D.C. in an event recogni ing ride month. he sense of ubilation outside the Department of Energy was palpable among its B employees, who were able to openly celebrate ride at an official event with a top Biden administration official. elping ranholm raise the ag was ara Shah, chief of staff for the energy secretary and the first openly gay person to occupy that role.

Shah said via email to the Washington Blade he considers the experience of raising the ride ag at the Department of Energy “a moment that is incredibly personally meaningful – and one I don’t take for granted.”

“For much of our nation’s history, our institutions have held LGBTQ+ people back,” Shah said. “But, when we raised the ag over D E this month, we symbolically lifted up our people up, and set an e ample for the energy and scientific communities around the world. I am proud to be part of an administration that says clearly ‘we have your back’ and for an energy secretary who is a champion for LGBTQ people everywhere.” he State Department is e periencing a similar change. fter the rump administration in its final years prohibited .S. embassies from ying the ride ag on the official pole, the State Department reversed the policy, allowing the rainbow ag to be own alongside the .S. ag. gay civil service officer at the State Department, who spo e on condition of anonymity because he wasn t authori ed to spea with the media, said the new policy at U.S. embassies as well as Pride proclamations from Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are having a positive impact.

“One thing I’ve been noticing is within the GLIFAA group on Facebook, people sharing photos of our embassies and consulates around the world with the ride ag ying on the same pole with the .S. ag, the officer said. “Those kinds of signals alone I think are making people feel like it’s just a completely different world instead of months ago for us. You know where we were.” he new ag policy, the officer said, is consistent with a broader change at the State 1 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • JUNE 11, 202 1 • NAT I O NA L NE WS

Department of leadership ma ing diversity writ large a priority, which includes having a diversity and e uity official in place who reports directly to the secretary of state.

In contrast, the Trump administration’s approach to LGBTQ employees was largely hands-off — if not a climate of hostility. LGBTQ people who continued to work in the federal government didn’t have the same engagement from the top down and contended with policies frustrating plans for Pride activities.

One example of the Trump administration being counterproductive was the executive order former President Trump signed prohibiting critical race theory in diversity training for federal employees. Because the directive required review of all diversity engagement — even if it didn’t include critical race theory — the executive order hampered organi ation among B employees.

In fact, last year Pride in Federal Service was forced to cancel a summit for LGBTQ federal employees because Trump’s executive order on critical race theory made things too complicated.

Musa said the Trump administration offered “absolutely no outreach or support” for engagement with federal government employees.

“We were offering some training with OPM on diversity and inclusion that we had to suspend because it fit within those guidelines of what was restricted, usa said. “So it was difficult to say the least.

But the change in atmosphere isn’t the result of the change in administration alone.

LGBTQ workers are also feeling a sense of renewal with the coronavirus in the rearwindow as domestic vaccinations continue to increase and events cancelled in the past year are happening again.

One event in honor of Pride month cancelled last year due to coronavirus, but now happening again, is a celebration at the Pentagon for LGBTQ service members and civilian employees. lthough the events at the Defense Department had ta en place annually since Don t s , Don t Tell repeal was certified in , coronavirus bro e the annual streak of that new tradition. udy Coons, president of the B employee group D D ride, said B federal employees are able to reconnect in ways that haven’t been possible for a long time thanks to the lifting of coronavirus restrictions.

“I would say that we’re excited to be able to celebrate Pride month this year in person since C ID prevented us from having an event last year, Coons said. “So we’re very excited about that, and we’re certainly in the department very excited that the secretary of defense will honor us with remarks as our keynote speaker.”

Also in contrast to the previous administration at the Pentagon event for Pride month is the presence at the event of a Cabinet level official. Defense Secretary loyd ustin is set to deliver the keynote address, a stark contrast to the Trump years when Pride events within federal agencies were more limited and didn t include Cabinet level officials.

With such a distinction between one administration and the next, LGBTQ workers in the federal government acknowledge they face a unique seesaw effect — and the onand-off experience takes a toll.

In recent years, the neglect and outright hostility during the George W. Bush administration changed when former resident bama too office, but the pendulum swung the other way during the Trump years, and now the situation for LGBTQ federal wor ers has changed once again with Biden in office. usa said the bac and forth isn t necessarily as difficult for wor ers who live in D.C., which has robust legal protections against anti-LGBTQ discrimination, but the situation is different for federal employees in other areas.

“We are a small minority of federal employees; the majority of federal employees wor outside the D.C. region, usa said. “And I think that really having that back and forth seesaw type thing where things are either really good depending on what administration’s in charge or really bad, is particularly aggravating.”

Musa added the stress of the back-and-forth would be alleviated if a federal law e panding the prohibitions on anti B discrimination, such as the E uality ct, were in place. he bill, however, continues to languish in Congress and is all but dead.

Despite the on and off trac record, B federal wor ers continue to hold out hope of greater stability in the near future and say as time passes the changes made for a welcoming work environment have become more and more durable. he gay civil service officer at the State Department said the momentum is toward greater LGBTQ inclusion within the federal workforce and “over time, it will be harder and harder to walk back these changes,” pointing to a few bright spots in the Trump administration. “ hey yan ed the ag and some other stuff, but they were still fighting to get same sex spouses accredited and countries that don’t allow you to accredit your spouse,” the officer said. “And so a lot of the things that had changed actually under the Obama administration did remain in place.”

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evine loses lt. guv and delegate races in a. primary airfa Counties.

Virginia House of Delegates member Mark Levine Although he lost his bid for renomination for his D le andria lost his bid to become the state s first gay delegate seat, evine came in first place in le andria in lieutenant governor on uesday by finishing in third place his race for lieutenant governor, capturing percent of in the Democratic primary with . percent of the vote in the vote in that seven candidate race. a seven candidate race. eanwhile, three other B members of the ouse In a development that surprised some political of Delegates, all Democrats, easily secured renomination observers, evine also lost his primary race for the for their seats and will be running in the ovember Democratic nomination to eep his ouse of Delegates general election against epublican nominees. seat to le andria ice ayor Eli abeth Bennett ar er by hey include Danica oem D rince William County , a margin of . percent to . percent of the vote. who four years ago became the nation s first transgender nder irginia s election law, evine was allowed to run person to win election and to be seated in a .S. state for the two offices at the same time, enabling him to secure legislature. oem was not challenged in the Democratic renomination for his delegate seat if he won the primary primary this year. for that seat while losing his race for lieutenant governor.

MARK LEVINE lost his two races on Tuesday.

Similarly, gay ouse of Delegates member ar Sic les irginia Del. ala yala D rince William County won (Photo courtesy Facebook) D airfa County was unchallenged in uesday s primary, the primary for the lieutenant governor s race with . securing his nomination to run against a epublican in the ovember general election. percent of the vote. She had been endorsed by irginia ov. alph ortham D , a strong esbian Del. Dawn dams D ichmond did face an opponent in the uesday primary, B rights supporter. which she won decisively by a margin of . percent to . percent against challenger ormer irginia ov. erry c uliffe, another longtime supporter of B rights, was yle Elliott. the decisive winner in the Democratic primary for governor, finishing with . percent of In the hotly contested race for si at large seats on the le andria City Council, the vote in a five candidate race. nder irginia s constitution, governors cannot run for a candidates, including two gay men, competed for the seats. ne of the two gay candidates, second consecutive term but can run again after leaving office for four years. ortham also ir c i e, who currently serves as chief of staff for gay .S. ep. ar a ano D Calif. , endorsed c uliffe. won the nomination for one of the seats by finishing in th place with . percent of the evine, an attorney, has been an outspo en supporter of B rights issues in the vote. ouse of Delegates, where he has served since . e currently holds the seat for the LOU CHIBBARO JR. th District, which includes most of the City of le andria and parts of rlington and

ice president s husband visits vaccination station at gay bar he D.C. gay sports bar itchers, which opened its first oor space as a C ID vaccination site on une , received a surprise visit by Douglas Emhoff, the husband of .S. ice resident amala arris who holds the title as the nation s first Second entleman. itchers customers and employees, including owner David erru a, oined D.C. government officials in greeting Emhoff and members of his staff who accompanied him warmly. he D.C. officials said they came to lend support for the city s efforts to e pand vaccination sites to nightlife establishments such as bars and restaurants.

Emhoff said he had heard that itchers and eague of er wn, the lesbian bar located in itcher s lower oor space, would be serving as a vaccination site and he wanted to stop by to show his support while he was in the dams organ neighborhood where itchers is located for another engagement. e readily agreed to numerous re uests by customers to allow them to stand ne t to him for photos as he greeted people in itcher s outdoor and indoor space.

e stood a few feet away from three tables where members of the staff of iant ood s pharmacy waited to administer vaccine shots to interested customers.

Emhoff stayed for about minutes before leaving to attend another nearby engagement. e was accompanied by staff members and members of the Secret Service.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

About 200 people gathered on June 5 for a rally to promote the misguided, debunked theory that gays can change their sexual orientation.

(Blade photo by Michael Key)

irst gay Blac man elected in e as alen c ee odrigue , a high school math teacher and graduate student who has lived in San ntonio since , beat his former boss and incumbent in the runoff race for the San ntonio City Council. With his victory, c ee odrigue became the first out gay Blac man ever elected in the state of e as. c ee odrigue once wor ed for his opponent, incumbent City Councilwoman ada ndrews Sullivan, but left her office in after facing retaliation for reporting alleged anti gay discrimination and harassment. ust last wee , poll watchers heard two pastors who endorsed ndrews Sullivan tell congregants voting for c ee odrigue would be a sin. alen shattered a lavender ceiling in e as, and it came as right wing state legislators target B people and people of color with bigoted policies aimed at rallying their e tremist political base, said former ouston ayor nnise ar er, president and CE of the B ictory und. We need more people of color, young people and B people in state and local government who will ensure politicians loo to improve the lives of e ans, not further marginali e them. alen s victory is a re ection of the homophobic and racist politic ing so fashionable in ustin and it will inspire more B Blac leaders to run and win.

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Harris meets with Guatemala LGBTQ, HIV activists combating it will open doors to pursue other Two members of Guatemalan civil society who necessary actions to give us a better life with work with the LGBTQ community and people more opportunities and with respect for our with HIV/AIDS participated in a roundtable with dignity.”

Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday.

Harris arrived in Guatemala on Sunday.

Visibles Executive Director Daniel Villatoro She met with President Alejandro Giammattei and Ingrid Gamboa of the Association of a couple of hours before the roundtable.

Garifuna Women Living with HIV/AIDS are Harris, among other things, announced the among the 18 members of Guatemalan civil creation of a task force with the Justice and society who participated in the roundtable State Departments that will fight corruption in that took place at a Guatemala City university.

Guatemala and in neighboring Honduras and Rigoberta Menchú, an indigenous human El Salvador. Harris will travel to Mexico City rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, is before she returns to D.C. among those who also took part.

Harris has previously acknowledged that Villatoro is among those who attended a violence based on sexual orientation and virtual roundtable with Harris on April 27. gender identity is among the “root causes” “When we met last time, I was so moved of migration from Guatemala and other to hear about the work that you have been Central American countries. State Department doing, the work that has been about helping spokesperson Ned Price last month noted women and children, indigenous, LGBTQ, to the Blade during an interview ahead of Afro-descendants, people who have long been Vice President KAMALA HARRIS is in Central America this week the International Day Against Homophobia, overlooked or neglected,” said Harris before working on the immigration issue.

Biphobia and Transphobia that protecting Monday’s meeting began.

LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers is one of the Biden administration’s global Visibles in a tweet acknowledged it participated in the roundtable.

LGBTQ rights priorities.

“Today we participated in a meeting with the vice president of the United States The Congressional LGBT+ Equality Caucus and U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), to talk about development opportunities for Guatemala and the search for inclusive who chairs the House Foreign Affairs Committee, urged Harris to raise anti-LGBTQ justice,” tweeted Visibles. “We, as an organization, spoke about the importance of violence in Central America during her trip. addressing discrimination and acts of violence toward LGBTIQ+ people.”

“Addressing human rights and rule of law as part of the root causes of out-migration Villatoro after the meeting said corruption and “the political crisis in terms of justice in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras is a top priority,” said Meeks. with which we live in Guatemala” were two of the issues raised with Harris.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS “Impunity does not allow us to live freely,” Villatoro told the Washington Blade. “But

Google donates $2 million to OutRight Action COVID fund Google.org, which manages Google’s charitable work, notes the organization “will be able to support at least an additional 100 LGBTIQ organizations in over 60 countries, reaching tens of thousands of people” because of the donation to its Covid-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund. OutRight Action International also notes Google.org will give it $1 million through Google Ad Grants to support its work.

“Google.org’s support for OutRight’s Covid-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund is truly transformative, doubling its reach and impact,” said OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern. “Thanks to the contribution from Google.org, OutRight will be able to serve tens of thousands of LGBTIQ people in need around the globe, providing a lifeline at an incredibly challenging time.”

OutRight Action International launched the fund in April 2020.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Google has donated $2 million to a fund that OutRight Action International created to support LGBTQ rights organizations around the world during the pandemic.

A press release that OutRight Action International issued on Tuesday notes Google.org, which manages Google’s charitable work, notes the organization “will be able to support at least an additional 100 LGBTIQ organizations in over 60 countries, reaching tens of thousands of people” because of the donation to its Covid-19 Global LGBTIQ Emergency Fund. OutRight Action International also notes Google.org will give it $1 million through Google Ad Grants to support its work.

Google has donated $2 million to a fund that OutRight Action International created to support LGBTQ rights organizations around the world during the pandemic.

A press release that OutRight Action International issued on Tuesday notes

Uganda police arrest 44 at LGBTQ shelter Police in Uganda last week arrested 44 people at an LGBTQ shelter outside the country’s capital of Kampala.

Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a Ugandan LGBTQ advocacy group, told the Washington Blade in an email the arrests took place in Nansana, a municipality in the Wakiso District.

Mugisha in another tweet said prosecutors have charged 42 of the 44 people who were arrested with “negligent act likely to spread infection of disease.” Mugisha added authorities subjected them to so-called anal tests to determine whether they are gay.

Mugisha said a bail hearing for 39 of the 44 people who were arrested took place on Wednesday. He tweeted the court “adjourned the matter to Friday.”

Mugisha said three of those who were arrested have been released on bail.

Pan Africa ILGA is among the organizations that have urged the Ugandan government to release those who were arrested . A State Department spokesperson on Wednesday told the Washington Blade in a statement the U.S. Embassy in Kampala is “following developments in the case closely.”

“We understand the individuals are being charged with violating government of

Uganda restrictions on the size of gatherings to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” said the spokesperson.

“The United States remains committed to supporting democracy, the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms, including freedom of expression, and prosperity in Uganda,” they added. “No one should face arrests, violence or torture because of who they are or who they love. We continue to engage with the government of Uganda on a wide range of issues, including those related to human rights, including LGBTQI+ rights, to improve the lives of all Ugandans.”

Uganda is among the dozens of countries around the world in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.

Lawmakers last month passed a bill that would further criminalize homosexuality in the country.

Police in April 2020 arrested 19 LGBTQ people at a Kampala shelter and charged them with violating regulations the Ugandan government put in place to curb the spread of the coronavirus. Prosecutors subsequently dropped the charges against them, and a court ordered their release.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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uieter ride season offers chance to reassess priorities With Equality Act dead, there remains much wor ahead

For the second consecutive year, most large-scale Pride celebrations have been canceled or postponed due to the pandemic.

Rather than mourn our lost parades, festivals, and income streams, we should embrace the pause to re ect on the wor that lies ahead. ust as many ride organi ations too advantage of ride cancellations last year to pivot and focus on supporting Blac ives atter, provides another opportunity to reassess our priorities in a post-Trump Washington.

Predictably, the Equality Act appears to be lost again, as the Blade reported recently. s we watch transformative pieces of legislation li e the E uality ct, the For the People Act to combat GOP voter suppression, the George Floyd Act to reform police, and a badly needed infrastructure bill die slow deaths at the hands of Sen. oe anchin s naivety, it appears the Democrats are once again poised to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. anchin s galling announcement this wee that he would vote against Democratic efforts to combat voter suppression by undoing epublican state bills to limit mail-in voting and increase the authority of poll watchers, among other components of the sweeping bill, is just the latest in a string of disappointing and irresponsible moves from the West Virginia senator. anchin is the only Democrat not to co sponsor the E uality ct in the Senate and the only Democratic no vote on combating voter suppression, which could cost Democrats their ma orities ne t year and anchin his Energy Committee chairmanship. anchin has sto ed unfounded fears about trans people accessing the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. e was the lone Democrat to vote in favor of a itle II amendment that would essentially bar transgender ids from participating in school sports. Incredibly, when as ed by the Blade about the E uality ct earlier this year, anchin professed to now nothing about the measure. nd in yet another blow this wee , anchin announced he opposes ditching the filibuster, all but dooming Democratic chances of passing the aforementioned bills. erhaps anchin s push for bipartisanship would be sensible and achievable if we didn t have a Senate minority run by itch cConnell, who announced his top priority is not helping the country recover from the pandemic, but rather to oppose everything Biden wants to accomplish, just as he did to President bama. Wa e up anchin, the epublicans are playing you.

With the B movement s top legislative priority D , despite Biden s pledge to sign it within his first days, there are other areas where we should focus. rom helping Democrats preserve and e pand their slim ouse and Senate majorities, to combatting the stunning avalanche of cruel anti-trans laws around the country in the courts, to supporting the administration s efforts at immigration reform and aid to Central merican countries, there s no shortage of wor ahead. ust as the B movement oined the nationwide protests following eorge loyd s murder, we should support ice resident amala arris in her role leading the effort for immigration reform. oo many B migrants are suffering in inhumane conditions in ICE custody too many ueer people eeing poverty, violence, and discrimination are marginalized or ignored by mainstream immigration reform efforts. here is an important role for B and I IDS advocacy groups to play as the administration gets serious about improving life for migrants.

By fighting for police reform, immigration reform, and having the bac s of our trans brothers and sisters in the fight against state legislative attac s, perhaps we ll have more to celebrate at ride . In the meantime, get vaccinated, stay safe, and call oe anchin s office once a day to protest his rec less intransigence.

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PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Life is precious, so live each day to the fullest

Clark Ray’s death reminds us to hold our friends tight while we can

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This past week I learned of the sudden passing of two close friends. It was a stark reminder of how precious life is and it can be over suddenly without warning and much too soon. Both friends lived their lives to the fullest and made a real difference for those around them. While they did it in different ways each shared a love of people and were loved in return. They will be missed not only by their families but by so many they might never have met but through their work impacted in a positive way.

This column is about Clark Ray who lived his life more publicly; my other friend was more private. Like so many others I was left speechless by Clark’s passing when I read it on Facebook. I will always remember Clark as a young man of substance, charm, and honor. He lived life in a way that so many others try to do but fall short; not Clark. He not only talked the talk of justice, equality and love for all, he walked that walk every day. He cared about all people and shared his love with them unstintingly and in return all of us who knew him loved him back.

Though older than Clark by many years I looked up to him. I first met him more than 25 years ago and have been close to him for over two decades in which he served four different mayors in D.C. I stood with him when he ran for Council chair and when he had some issues with a job. But Clark overcame everything and was able to do that because of his expertise and ability to get along with everyone.

His last job for the District of Columbia was as executive director of the D.C. State Athletic Association (DCSAA). The DCSAA combines public and private school athletics in D.C. Clark handled football and basketball playoffs, and pitting the public school champion from the DCIAA against the several champions from private schools within the city. It wasn’t easy this past pandemic year but Clark always spoke up for the athletes and their needs.

Prior to that, Clark served in many roles for the mayors he served. He began with a stint in the Office of Neighborhood Services. He then served as director of the Department of Parks and Recreation; senior director, Strategy for the Greater Washington Sports Alliance; and director of External Affairs for the DC Sports and Entertainment Commission. In each role, Clark spoke out for the LGBTQ+ community. He helped to found Team DC, the gay sports league, and was co-chair of the committee that worked to bring the Gay Gaymes to D.C. He supported the fight for gay marriage through the Foundation for All DC Families and fought for the right of LGBTQ people to adopt children. He and his husband Aubrey have four. He was incredibly knowledgeable about D.C. government and willingly shared his knowledge with others, mentoring them.

Clark came to D.C. with the Clinton administration, a proud son of Smackover, Ark. His amazing and supportive mom still lives there. He worked as director of Strategic Scheduling and Advance, Office of the Vice President for Tipper Gore.

He then served as chief of staff to Tipper during the Gore 2000 campaign. When Clark ran for Council, Tipper returned the favor and come to a fundraiser for him.

Another big name who did a fundraiser for him was Madeleine Albright. Clark could charm both the guy on the street and the famous; they all loved him. I don’t know anyone who met Clark who didn’t respect and love him. I once had a debate with Cora Masters Barry in our Leadership Washington class and we finally hugged it out when Clark sat us at the same table at his and Aubrey’s wedding.

That is just who Clark was.

My heart goes out to Clark’s husband Aubrey who was clearly the love of his life and their beautiful four children as well as the host of loving family both in Arkansas and Mississippi where Aubrey is from. They visited with them regularly.

I also send my condolences to all those friends who were lucky enough as I was to know Clark and be a part of his life. We have all lost something irreplaceable with his passing.

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ANTHONY WOODS is an Iraq war veteran and serves as an intelligence analyst in the Army Reserves. He was also one of the 13,000+ service members discharged under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”

We must not ignore LGBTQ veterans during Pride month

Congress should act to grant thousands an honorable discharge

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On March 24, 2021, President Biden signed into law the SAVE LIVES Act with unanimous support from Congress. The law, which extended access to COVID-19 vaccines to the spouses of veterans, created another valuable benefit to those who left the military with an honorable discharge. As we commemorate Pride month, we have to call out the unfinished business of repealing the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law and the federal government’s continued denial of benefits to thousands of LGBTQ+ veterans.

In late March, my husband Zack and I were able to receive the COVID-19 vaccine thanks to my status as a veteran and my continued service in uniform in the Army Reserves. Thirteen years ago, I would have never imagined that I would someday be legally married to my husband, able to serve openly in the military, and that my spouse and I would have access to the same benefits as straight couples.

In 2008, when I chose to stop lying about my sexual orientation, I was kicked out of the military under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” but received an honorable discharge.

An honorable discharge from the military means a veteran has access to a range of benefits including affordable home loans, tuition assistance, and medical treatment for anything from PTSD to COVID-19 vaccines.

Given the uneven nature of how the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law was applied, it’s safe to say I was lucky. Many of the 13,000+ others discharged under the same law were not as lucky often because a military commander chose to apply the law more harshly.

These LGBTQ+ veterans and their families are now denied benefits.

Because most of the discharges for LBGTQ+ service members were considered “administrative” rather than “punitive,” thousands of veterans were denied a court hearing and due process. Oftentimes, mere suspicion of “homosexual conduct” was enough to justify removal from the military.

Many veterans accepted negative discharge characterizations because of a ADVERT ISING PRO OF persistent myth in the military community that they can be easily upgraded once they had returned to civilian life, according to a study by Harvard Law. This has not been a reality for many.

This problem has become dire for many during the COVID pandemic, as more veterans have petitioned to have their discharges upgraded in order to access VA health care and benefits because they lost their jobs.

ADVERTISER SIGNATURE States like Colorado, New York, Nevada, and Rhode Island have strengthened antiBy signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the washington blade newspaper. This includes but is not discrimination limited to placement, payment andlaws insertion and expanded access to benefits for LGBTQ+ veterans removed schedule. from the military for their sexual orientation. Despite these well-intentioned efforts, states cannot provide crucial benefits like full VA health care and the GI bill, nor can they upgrade military discharges.

As we mark Pride month, the federal government must act. The Biden administration, which has already made history by moving to strengthen the rights of LGBTQ+ people and lifted prohibitions on open trans service, must work with Congress to pass legislation that will give these thousands of veterans an honorable discharge, which will provide access to the benefits they have earned for serving our country.

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ISAAC AMEND (he/him)

COLUMBIA

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HEIGHTENED

Being Isabel

Some trans folk miss certain elements of their past life

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One of my first memories of being Isabel was in Islamabad, Pakistan, with my father at some nondescript water fountain, teal blue. My identical twin Helen and I, aged around five, are staring up into the camera, blank expressions, no hidden agenda — the grounds around us an abyss to be conquered with yelling matches and dancing and faces overstuffed with chocolate cake.

More memories start to flow like etches on some weird, global impressionist sketch— playground laughs in New Delhi as tiny zig-zagged marks, and loud sobbing tantrums in the corner of our house in the old quarter as frenetic dashes on a canvas, all painting what it was like being female—being Isabel—before manhood.

Helen and I get henna on our hands—burgundy traces of ink on the front and back of palms, at Dilli Haat in Delhi, and rummage through old books at Khan market.

Childhood is effortless and easy—maniacal screaming and kicking and racing with friends in circles and circles, plotting marriages and throwing paper planes off fortress walls with Daniel, jumping on the back of Raja, our white lab, or boarding miniature waves in the outer banks of North Carolina.

We return to the States at eight years of age.

Helen and I join a club soccer team in Virginia. Our mother is now reading us Harry Potter almost religiously, being a woman of books and letters, perhaps loving fiction as much as she loves cradling us after soccer practice. Her voice is soothing, and JK Rowling—then good—was giving us Hogwarts and Hermione, with her tangled brown hair and wicked intellect, on a platter.

Returning from a club game, our friend Annie whispers in my ear. “Isabel,” she says, “Usher cheated on his girlfriend in his song Confessions.” We gush over his infidelity.

The scandal. This becomes a fact between us—a rogue piece of information—that we start to guard with excellent statecraft. No one else can know our secret—that Usher is a cheater.

When we’re 12, we move to Russia.

Helen and I join the Moscow soccer team. Tournaments are in Budapest and Bucharest and Warsaw. On trips we shovel ice cream in student teacher lounges and prowl shopping malls in Bucharest, scrutinizing dresses at H&M and Zara. Gossip is exchanged in school corridors and store bathrooms.

In the city, Russian women are “fitful,” people say. High, black leather boots and white tunics during the summer; mink fur in January and loud red lipstick all the time. Vodka in precious shot glasses and black caviar on blinis.

The Novy Arbat is packed with nightclubs—drunkards come out at 8 a.m. on weekdays, some with bottles of Stolichnaya. Helen and I, now 13, race to a kiosk in one of the sixlane avenue’s underpasses, buying Redd’s beer. We are not of age for alcohol, but that doesn’t matter—only that we are tall enough to reach the counter.

We move back to Arlington. In eleventh grade, I feel myself slipping away from my body, drifting away from my legs, arms, torso, and curves. Activities like running or drinking with friends lack pleasure and feel painful. But no matter how many miles I clock on the track, I can’t run away from this disassociation.

Some transgender people hate their former lives. A lot of us want these lives gone, torn apart, forgotten forever. But it’s more complicated than that. Some trans folk miss elements of their past life, sometimes dearly. These two feelings are not mutually exclusive, either.

At present, I wear a pair of washed up, straight jeans, a black Hanes T-shirt, and brown boots that peg me as some sort of country denizen. My jacket is from Old Navy, and sweaters from a motley of stores I don’t care about. Now and then I throw a watch, or a tropical button down.

But the lack of gossip is what kills me the most. Some women bond over Vera Wang shoes, manicures, and tales of boys. I don’t know what the same social currency is for men—beer? Poker chips? Body count? Whatever they are, they seem irrelevant and wasteful.

So I said goodbye to wardrobes, dresses, and mascara. But they’ll never leave my mind, just as being a sister or a female friend will never leave, either. There to stay, tucked back in some recess of my brain, petulant, an ever-nagging reminder of having been Isabel.

Youth in Action: Indigenizing Pride Thursday, June 17, 4 p.m. EST Free | Registration required americanindian.si.edu/online-programs Many tribal nations have always recognized multiple genders and those who possess both male and female spirits. Native people who identify as more than one gender or possessing both spirits sometimes refer to themselves as Two Spirit.

Celebrate Pride Month by watching this bilingual program with Indigenous youth working in different fields to amplify Two Spirit and Native LGBTQ+ voices and issues.

Photo: Jan Sochor/Alamy Stock

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MAEVE KORENGOLD is a freelance journalist and student ambassador for Safe Space NOVA.

LGBTQ youth face mental health challenges amid pandemic

We must assist with legislative remedies, resources The mental health of many has suffered amid the coronavirus pandemic, with rates of depression, anxiety, and other mental illnesses steadily rising since March 2020. Youth, especially those who identify as LGBTQ, are being hit especially hard by these manifestations.

The Trevor Project’s 2021 Youth Mental Health National Survey found that 72 percent of LGBTQ+ people between the ages of 13 and 24 experienced symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder and 62 percent experience symptoms of major depressive disorder — a steep increase since the 2020 survey. This uptick can be attributed to the lack of support that two out of every three respondents to the 2021 survey experience in their homes.

Due to the pandemic and resulting restrictions placed on social gatherings, LGBTQ youth are unable to participate in in-person activities where their identities are affirmed, and forced to endure misgendering and other discriminatory situations within their homes that are confirmed to increase feelings of loneliness, depression, and anxiety. Online crisis lines, LGBTQ organizations that offer online events for youth, and other resources that support young LGBTQ people are especially vital to their mental health during this time when schoolwide Gender and Sexuality Alliances and counseling aren’t as widely accessible.

Before the pandemic, LGBTQ youth were already suffering from mental illness at extremely high rates. The Trevor Project’s 2019 Youth Mental Health National Survey reported that 39 percent of respondents had seriously considered suicide, more than double the national statistic encompassing both LGBTQ and cisgender, heterosexual youth found in a CDC study the same year.

The culture surrounding many LGBTQ students in their homes and schools contributes to their alarming rates of mental illness.

The lack of positive representation of LGBTQ identities in books, on screen, and in classrooms leads youth to believe that there is no hope to ever have successful lives as openly LGBTQ people.

The LGBTQ characters that young people do have to look up to are often unnecessarily killed off when the “bury your gays” trope is employed, or their storylines center around their LGBTQ identity and disregard any other part of their humanity; tricking them into thinking that they’re nothing beyond their sexual orientation or gender identity and can’t be functioning and productive members of their communities because of it.

According to the Human Rights Campaign’s 2020 State Equality Index, only two U.S states have laws addressing discrimination against students based on sexual orientation, and only one state has legislated protections for transgender and gender-nonconforming students.

Six states specifically restrict the inclusion of LGBTQ topics in curricula.

The institutionalized exclusion of LGBTQ students from school curriculum further alienates them in spaces where they should feel comfortable and accepted for who they are and helps to facilitate a breeding ground for further discrimination.

Students internalize the stereotypes, tropes, and other ways in which homophobia and transphobia permeate society and are poisoned with beliefs that they’re abnormal, perverted, and disgusting. Over time, this brainwashing eats away at the psyche of youth as they grow and leads to the high rates of mental health issues in LGBTQ youth.

Straight and cisgender students are also affected by these failings and in turn, affect the mental health of their LGBTQ counterparts. They absorb the same falsehoods about LGBTQ people and their identities, and lash out at those who they’ve been taught are lesser than them, including their friends and classmates. The internal struggle that manifests in LGBTQ youth as well as external attacks from their peers results in the unique mental health crisis they face.

LGBTQ youth have also been affected by the pandemic at a higher capacity than other groups. A 2017 study by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago found that LGBTQ youth are over 100 percent more likely to report homelessness than straight and cisgender youth.

Many LGBTQ people, especially members of the transgender community, avoid seeing doctors or mental health professionals due to the absence of protections for LGBTQ people and hostile experiences with medical personnel.

Without access to spaces where they can interact with other LGBTQ youth, shelters in which they feel safe, LGBTQ affirming doctors, and policies in place that protect LGBTQ workers and patients, LGBTQ youth are struggling mentally in high volume that increased during the pandemic.

The lives and futures of LGBTQ youth are not expendable, and it’s time that they stop being treated as such. Legislated protections for LGBTQ students and resources that are available to youth are necessary to combat the daunting rates of mental illness within the young LGBTQ community.

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Full reopening of bars, clubs boosts Pride celebrations June 11 marks end to nearly all COVID restrictions in D.C.

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Some owners of D.C. gay bars have said Mayor Muriel Bowser’s announcement on May 10 that the city’s restaurants and bars could resume operations at full capacity and return to pre-pandemic operating hours on May 21 caught them by surprise.

After several months of business shutdowns followed by a partial reopening with strict limits of only 25 percent of the normal number of customers inside bars and restaurants, a ban on standing in bars or being served while sitting at a barstool, the mayor’s reopening order left many bars and restaurants short on servers and bartenders.

But nearly everyone associated with D.C. gay bars who spoke with the Washington Blade — including owners, employees, and customers — have said they were ecstatic to see a full reopening after more than a year of COVID-related restrictions and hardship.

“We didn’t really open at a 100 percent capacity,” said John Guggenmos, co-owner of the D.C. gay bars Trade and Number 9, immediately after Mayor Bowser issued her full reopening order. Like other bar owners, Guggenmos said Trade and Number 9 had to bring back employees who had to be let go due to the shutdowns and operating restrictions over the past year.

“But you know, seeing people again, hearing the stories of some of the struggles they went through, and our customers just talking to each other and saying how glad they are to be back gave us a sense of our community and how much we are more than just four walls and some chairs and music,” Guggenmos said.

Dito Sevilla, who works as bar manager at the 17th Street restaurant Floriana, and as longtime host of the restaurant’s lower-level space known as Dito’s Bar, said the May 21 lifting of COVID restrictions has returned business to pre-pandemic levels.

“We were not fully staffed on day one either,” Sevilla told the Blade. “Everyone had to work a little extra,” he said. “And that was OK with them because they had gone without working for so long that working some extra shifts that week wasn’t going to hurt anyone. They were thrilled to do it.”

Doug Schantz, owner of the U Street, N.W. gay sports bar Nellie’s, said he too was caught off guard by the short advance notice of the mayor’s May 21 full reopening of restaurants and bars but like other bar owners said he is pleased that the full reopening has come to D.C. He said Nellie’s put in place a “soft” reopening on May 21, with operations limited to his second-floor space that has a roof deck and he continued to close at midnight instead of the resumption to normal closing times with the mayor’s order at 2 a.m. on weekdays and 3 a.m. on weekends.

Schantz said he timed his full reopening to take place this weekend to coincide with the kickoff of the city’s LGBTQ Pride events. And by July 1, he said, Nellie’s will resume its popular drag brunch.

“We’re taking it one step at a time, but so many people were happy to be back,” he said. “They want to be back to normal.”

David Perruzza, owner of the Adams Morgan gay sports bar Pitchers and its adjoining lesbian bar A League of Her Own, said he and his regular customers, many of whom continued to show up at the two bars during the height of the pandemic restrictions, are delighted over the full reopening. Like several of the other bar owners, Perruzza said he will continue to operate outdoor seating under the “streetery” program the city established when indoor seating was initially banned and later resumed at just 25 percent capacity.

One COVID-related rule remaining in place for bars and restaurants, which is expected to be lifted soon, is the requirement that bars and restaurants obtain a name and phone number for at least one person entering as part of a group and for each individual entering for contact tracing purposes in the event someone tests positive for COVID on the day the customer was present. The city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration, which initiated the requirement during the height of the pandemic, was expected to end the requirement in the next few weeks, according to sources familiar with ABRA. In addition to the full reopening of bars and restaurants on May 21, the city has cleared the way for the full resumption of large indoor and outdoor events on June 11, including parades and sports stadiums. That development has prompted D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes the city’s LGBTQ Pride events, to add to this week’s Pride events a June 12 Pride Walk, which will begin at Dupont Circle at noon and travel to Logan Circle before heading south to Freedom Plaza, where a rally will take place.

“The excitement has been palpable since bars and restaurants in D.C. recently

reopened at full capacity and without limit or activity restrictions,” said Mark Lee, coordinator of the D.C. Nightlife Council, a local trade association representing bars, restaurants, and nightclubs.

“The enthusiasm is especially evident at LGBT venues, with long lines common after a long period of shutdowns and slowdowns,” Lee said. “The celebration will expand on June 11 when nightclub-licensed dance clubs fully reopen, and large music venues begin hosting tour acts and special shows in the coming days.”

But Lee said a “flip side” to the reopening celebrations is the reality that many bars, restaurants, and nightclubs must grapple with a massive debt burden of back-rent owed to landlords that threatens their survival.

Lee and others point out that the forced shutdowns and capacity restrictions that these mostly small businesses have faced during the pandemic resulted in a drastic reduction in revenue that forced them to rely on local D.C. and federal COVID moratoriums on evictions for commercial and residential tenants. With the

This was the scene at Dupont Underground last Friday as a sold-out crowd turned out for the Blade’s ‘D.C.’s Royals, a Celebration of Drag’ event. Crowds are expected at LGBTQ events and businesses all weekend as the city celebrates Pride.

moratoriums ending, the businesses must now repay the back rent owed that Lee says often exceeds $100,000 or more.

“That’s why the D.C. Nightlife Council and the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington are urging Mayor Bowser and the D.C. Council to utilize a small portion of the city’s federal relief monies to create a Rent Relief Fund for local establishments facing unsustainable past-due lease obligations,” Lee said.

Perruzza said that in addition to facing back rent payments related to the pandemic, he and other bar and restaurant owners had to pay D.C. property taxes under their lease agreements at a time when their revenue was greatly suppressed from the pandemic. He said he believes he will be able to cope with the rental payoff, but the relief fund proposed by Lee and others would be immensely helpful for his and other struggling small businesses.

Bowser and members of the D.C. Council have said they were considering the relief proposal.

“We’re thankful for the support the community showed throughout the pandemic and the eagerness to want to get back to us,” said Guggenmos of Trade and Number 9. “We are thrilled and it’s great seeing everyone, but it doesn’t mean the sleepless nights are over,” he said in referring to the rental debt and other COVID-related expenses that his clubs continue to face.

Among the other D.C. gay bars whose representatives or customers said they are pleased over the reopening at full capacity include Uproar, Dirty Goose, JR.’s, Larry’s Lounge, Window’s, Annie’s Paramount Steakhouse, Duplex Diner, and Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Va. Lee said the downtown D.C. nightclub Sound Check at 1420 K St., N.W., was scheduled to resume its weekly Avalon Saturday “gay” nights on June 12. Before being put on hold during the pandemic, the event featured drag shows and dancing.

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D.C. Pride Walk and Rally set for June 12

Newly announced events to precede citywide Pridemobile Parade

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Colorful Pridemobile Parade. The Capital Pride The Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes Alliance’s caravan of Pride decorated cars led by its D.C.’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced on Pridemobile trolley will travel across D.C. to pass by Monday a Capital Pride Walk will take place on homes and businesses also decorated with Pride Saturday, June 12, from Dupont Circle to Logan displays. The starting time and route of the parade Circle before traveling south along 13th Street to were to be posted the week of June 6 on the Capital Freedom Plaza at 13th and Pennsylvania Avenue, Pride website.

N.W., where a Pride rally will be held.

“Now that it is becoming safer for us to once again come together as the District of Columbia officially JUNE 13 reopens, the Capital Pride Alliance will bring Taste of Pride Brunch. Capital Pride Alliance together our intersectional LGBTQ+ community has organized “an exclusive group of beloved local to walk, celebrate, march, be visible, and amplify restaurants that have made a commitment to support the rich culture of Washington, D.C.,” the group’s Pride and local LGBTQ+ charities” to host special announcement says.

Pride month brunches. Special food items, Pride “On Saturday, June 12, the day that would have drink specials, and entertainment will be offered been the date for D.C.’s most favorite parade, the at some of the venues, the locations and names of Capital Pride Parade, we intend to hold a Pride Walk which Capital Pride will publish on its website.

An array of virtual and in-person events are planned to celebrate & Rally, that will be followed by the first Pridemobile Pride this month. (Blade file photo by Clint Steib) Parade,” the announcement states.

JUNE 14 It was referring to its previously announced Rainbow Warriors: A Century of LGBTQ+ Pridemobile Parade set for June 12 that will consist of a caravan of cars decorated Womxn Activists. A virtual event the details of which were expected to be posted on with Pride related displays expected to travel across the city to pass by historic sites the Capital Pride website. such as the U.S. Capitol as well as to drive past people’s homes and businesses that will also be decorated with Pride displays.

JUNE 15 Although there will be a fee for organizations to enter a vehicle in the Pridemobile Still We Gather! Center Faith embraces this year’s Capital Pride Theme, “Still Parade, there will be no fee to join the Pride Walk and Rally, according to the We!” A Zoom interfaith service set to begin at 7 p.m. organized by local LGBTQ announcement. The announcement says the Pridemobile Parade will begin at Freedom and LGBTQ supportive faith groups, including Metropolitan Community Church of Plaza following the conclusion of the rally, but Capital Pride officials had yet to release D.C., Faith Temple, Bet Mishpachah, Unity Fellowship D.C., Westminster Presbyterian the official route of the parade.

Church, and All Souls Unitarian Church.

According to the announcement, participants in the Pride Walk are being asked to assemble inside Dupont Circle at noon on June 12. The walk will begin at 12:30, JUNE 17 it says, and will travel along P Street to Logan Circle and then head south along 13th Chamber Connect – MOXY DC-Play on Pride. A professional networking meeting Street to Freedom Plaza. It says no motor vehicles will be allowed in the Pride Walk. with a focus on LGBTQ Pride themes to be held 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Moxy Washington, “If anyone is unable to meet at Dupont Circle, then please depart from your D.C. Hotel at 1011 K St., N.W. own neighborhood and make your way down to Freedom Plaza by 2 p.m.,” the announcement says. “There will be a short rally with music at Freedom Plaza as we JUNE 24 prepare to kick off the Pridemobile Parade at 3 p.m.”

Teen Pride Lounge. A virtual gathering of LGBTQ teens, including some from Prince Ryan Bos, the Capital Pride Alliance executive director, said the group has obtained George’s County, Md., on YouTube and Discord will feature a discussion with LGBTQ+ the necessary permits from the city to facilitate temporary street closings to allow authors Leah Johnson and Tom Ryan as well as special community guests. Johnson Pride Walk participants to walk uninterrupted by traffic along the cross streets. and Ryan have published works of interest to young people.

Information about other events scheduled for the June Pride month can be found at: capitalpride.org/celebration. A partial list of other events follows: JUNE 30 Still We Lead – A Community and Professional Development Experience.

A virtual seminar organized by Capital Pride Alliance on the topic, “A Forgotten THROUGH JUNE 27 Generation.” The session will discuss ways in which LGBTQ people and their allies can Washington Blade Pride Month Celebration of Drag. A month-long exhibition at “support and foster an intersectional and social justice movement.” the Dupont Underground, the former trolley car station located under Dupont Circle, that showcases a mix of photographs and video footage honoring the roots of drag in America and D.C.’s drag scene. The exhibition as well as drag performances and a AAPI COMMUNITY EVENTS Sunday brunch will take place each Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the month of AQUA DC will hosting a virtual art show with API Pride in conjunction with various June. Details available at washingtonblade.com/royals. queer AAPI organizations including: AQUA DC, the Mayor’s Office on Asian Pacific Islander Affairs, Capital Pride, Korean Queer Trans DC (KQT DC), the Asian Pacific Islander Queer Society (APIQS), Khush DC and the National Association of Asian JUNE 11 American Professionals (NAAAP DC).

The Capital Pride Honors. An in-person event to be held at the Compass Coffee The art show will take place from June to October and will highlight and support the Factory in D.C.’s Ivy City neighborhood at 1401 Okie St., N.E., in which the Capital work of local queer and transgender AAPI artists.

Pride Alliance will present its annual honors recognizing “outstanding individuals, In addition, AQUA DC will also relaunch its monthly happy hour “API QT Time” at leaders, and activists” in the D.C. area who have furthered the causes of the LGBTQ+ Uproar, a queer Asian and women-owned business, on June 18 at 5 p.m. community.

JUNE 12

Drag Family Story Time. A virtual Pride event organized by the D.C. Public Library featuring local drag performers Domingo, Arma Dura, and Katie Magician who will read children’s stories to “celebrate Pride as a family,” a statement on the library’s website says. It is scheduled to be broadcast on the public library system’s YouTube channel at 11 a.m.

Washington Blade Describe-a-thon. A virtual D.C. Public Library Pride event from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. to discuss the library’s ongoing project of digitizing all past issues of the Washington Blade to its digital collections.

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LATINX COMMUNITY EVENTS

Nancy Cañas, president of the Latinx History Project, says, “In 2020, the Latinx History Project celebrated 20 years of collecting our stories, educating the public about our LGBTQIA+ Latinx culture and accomplishments, and planning DC Latinx Pride. This year we’re celebrating 15 years — quinceañera!”

The organization’s roster of events includes “La Plática,” a virtual event on June 15 where people will gather to discuss topics and issues of relevance within the Latino community. The Royal Court Announcement will take place on June 22, and “La Draga” will take place virtually on June 29.

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Thousands attended the Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance on June 3, 2021.

(Photo courtesy of Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance)

In-person Pride events happening around the world Celebrations ringing out from Cuba to Israel

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

Activists around the world are planning to hold in-person Pride events this year.

Organizers of Tijuana GLBTI Pride in the Mexican border city say a decrease in coronavirus cases has allowed them to hold a march on June 19. Participants will be required to wear masks and socially distance. Tijuana GLBTI Pride organizers also plan to distribute condoms at a gay bar in downtown Tijuana.

“The GLBT community and owners of entertainment venues and establishments in the region have also suffered a blow with the arrival of the pandemic caused by the coronavirus a year ago,” wrote Tijuana GLBTI Pride Coordinator Lorenzo Herrera on his group’s website, noting the decrease in coronavirus cases in Mexico’s Baja California state has allowed businesses to reopen. “It allows for the reopening of establishments like bars and cantinas.”

“This new normality and opening of spaces allowed us to resume planning for the 2021 Pride march,” added Herrera.

The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration, a Minnesota-based organization that works with LGBTQ migrants and refugees around the world, and Alight on June 13 will hold a digital Pride brunch on both sides of the Mexico-U.S. border with Jardín de las Mariposas, a shelter in Tijuana for LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers. Frenchie Davis is among those who are scheduled to perform at ORAM’s #RefugeePride Gala on June 17.

Rainbow Sunrise Mapambazuko, an LGBTQ advocacy group in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is scheduled to hold a Pride event in the city of Bukavu on June 26.

The Spanish Embassy in D.C. commissioned London Kaye, a Los Angeles-based artist, to create a crocheted mural that features Federico García Lorca, a gay Spanish poet and playwright who Spanish Nationalists executed in 1936 shortly after the country’s Civil War began. The mural is currently displayed above the entrance to the Spanish ambassador’s former home in Columbia Heights.

Tbilisi Pride on July 5 is scheduled to hold a march in the Georgian capital. The group on its Facebook page says the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on LGBTQ Georgians.

“Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gay people experience oppression and discrimination on a daily basis,” it notes. “Hate groups are constantly trying to stir up hostility in society towards us. By weaponizing homophobia, these groups try to sow discord and divide society or social movements, to discredit various just demands. The state often leaves the criminal activities of violent groups and their leaders unpunished, thereby normalizing violence against (LGBTQ) people and, at the same time hinders development and justice-oriented social, political and economic change.”

“We need to make our voices heard by our family, friends, colleagues, fellow citizens and the state,” proclaimed Tbilisi Pride.

WorldPride 2021, which will take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Malmö, Sweden, from Aug. 12-22, will feature both virtual and in-person events. Uganda Pride will hold their Pride events in October, as opposed to this month, because the government has imposed a partial lockdown in response to an increase in COVID-19 cases.

Thousands attend Jerusalem Pride

Israel is among the countries in which in-person Pride events have already taken place.

Thousands of people attended the annual Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance on June 3.

The in-person event took place less than two weeks after a cease fire between Israel and Hamas militants that govern the Gaza Strip took effect. The future of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and tensions over the eviction of several Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem’s Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood also loomed large over the Jerusalem March for Pride and Tolerance.

Cuba’s National Center for Sexual Education last month held a series of virtual events that commemorated the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia.

CENESEX Director Mariela Castro, who is the daughter of former Cuban President Raúl Castro, during a May 4 press conference in Havana announced a bill that would amend the country’s family code will be introduced in Parliament in July. Tremenda Nota, the Washington Blade’s media partner in Cuba, reported Mariela Castro said this year’s IDAHOBiT events are part of the aforementioned effort and will help make Cubans more receptive to LGBTQ rights.

“I was able to appreciate that the majority of the population … is in favor of recognizing the rights of LGBTI+ people and especially the rights in the family sphere that include the possibility, the option, of marriage,” Mariela Castro told reporters on May 4.

U.S. embassies fly Pride flags

Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power are among the American officials who have publicly acknowledged Pride month.

Blinken in April said U.S. embassies and consulates can once again fly the Pride flag.

The U.S. Embassy in the Bahamas this month is flying the Pride flag for the first time.

Alexus D’Marco, an activist who is a member of LGBTI Bahamas, a Bahamian advocacy group, on Monday referred to Eleanor Roosevelt when she discussed the impact the gesture has had on LGBTQ Bahamians.

“It’s not in protest,” D’Marco told the Blade. “It’s a lead by example effort that may be saying, yes we admit that we may have flaws as countries and in some cases former colonists, but we do this to dissuade you from making the same mistake of thinking that some are better than others. It’s an open invitation to join the changing world, for us the older generations to listen to the voice of the youth who are telling us very clearly and loudly that the future they envision is not one of stigma and discrimination, instead it is one with human rights and dignity for all in a land that is sustainable and full of that ‘the-ness.’”

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D.C. restaurants, bars ready to celebrate Pride Many drink, food specials to benefit local LGBTQ charities

By EVAN CAPLAN

Capital Pride looks different this year as the city wakes from its pandemic closures.

While official Pride events are mostly virtual in June, bars and restaurants will still have plenty going on to celebrate and commemorate LGBTQ+ Pride in DC. Selected options for drinks, food, and events are listed below.

FOOD & DRINKS Aslin Beer Company (847 S Pickett St., Alexandria) made news this spring with an announcement of a planned second location on 14th Street where Dacha had sought to open a location. The brewery will again produce its “Now More Than Ever” beer, an 8.6% double IPA hopped with citra and sabro, in recognition of Pride month. It will be $20 for a pack.

Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken (1308 G St., N.W.) is circling the Pride square with fried goodies. At all three locations, the Pride doughnut ($3.75) is a vanilla glazed with rainbow sprinkles – plus other decorations, including one with a non-edible rainbow ring that can be worn after the doughnut is enjoyed. A portion of proceeds go to SMYAL. ANXO Cidery (300 Florida Ave., N.W.) is producing a Pride cider, with a portion of proceeds benefitting Casa Ruby. It will be a Northern Spy apple cider, fermented dry in in stainless steel. It is sugar-free and gluten-free, and will sold nationwide. The can will be decked out in rainbow colors.

Karma Modern Indian (611 I St., N.W.) is offering a special cocktail for the month of June: the Banyan Shade ($14). It’s made with Tito’s Vodka, Domaine Canton, and “Spinach Aqua” and has a garnish resembling a colorful flag. Karma will be making a donation to Casa Ruby from the proceeds.

Dirty Habit DC is having “Colors of the Rainbow,” a month-long series during which the restaurant will feature a different color themed food and beverage offering each week. A portion of sale of every “Colors of the Rainbow” signature item will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign and a Place Called Home.

As an LGBTQ-owned business, KNEAD Hospitality + Design is supporting the Capital Pride Alliance by donating a portion of proceeds on punch cocktails at all KNEAD restaurants: The Grill, Succotash, Gatsby, and Mi Vida, on June 12 and 13.

Foxtrot Market (1267 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.), the new upscale corner store and café in Georgetown, is partnering with Brooklyn artist Cute Brute to create a Confetti Cake Brownie for the month of June. Proceeds from sales of the brownie will go to Casa Ruby.

In keeping to its annual tradition, DC Brau Brewing is making its hops queer, with a limited run of a special PRIDE PILS. Proceeds will go to benefit SMYAL. DC Brau will do a second run of PRIDE PILS in October, benefiting The Blade Foundation, set for the weekend of National Coming Out Day. El Tamarindo, the Mexican-Salvadoran restaurant more than three decades old, is serving a Walter Mercado cocktail ($11), garnished with an elegant orchid. The front window display is dedicated to Walter Mercado and his cultural influence. Proceeds from the drink go to Casa Ruby.

The eco-friendly plant-based fast-food joint HipCityVeg is mixing up its first-ever Pride drink: The Love Shake, served all June long. This strawberry shake is topped with rainbow and glitter sprinkles and gets a compostable rainbow straw. A percentage of sales go to SMYAL and Whitman-Walker. “We wanted something colorful and festive that would both raise spirits and raise funds for organizations that serve the community,” explains Director of Marketing Aviva Goldfarb. “We have tons of LGBTQ+ staff members and customers and knew this would also be meaningful (and fun) for them. Plus, we have seasonal strawberry shakes in stores in June so adding the colorful and glittery sprinkles and the rainbow straw made sense.”

EVENTS Dacha Beer Garden (1600 7th St., N.W., and 79 Potomac Ave., S.E.) is hosting a Cause Tuesday fundraiser with Gay for Good on Tuesday, June 7, and a Dacha Beer Club with local brewery 7 Locks on Wednesday, June 8. The Beer Club event will showcase the 7 Locks Surrender Dorothy beer, part of the sour series Bitch Monkey. Dacha will have a Dorothy Drag surprise, and guests are encouraged to wear their Wizard of Oz best.

Special Dacha brand tank tops will be on sale at both locations.

Via the Capital Pride Alliance is its official weekly mixer of Pride Season, Hooked on

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A bartender at Dacha pours a Pride Pils from DC Brau in 2019.

(Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Capital Pride! It will take place at Hook Hall (3400 Georgia Ave., N.W.) in Petworth. Every Wednesday beginning June 9, there will be drink specials, music, and celebrations.

A portion of the proceeds from this event will support the Capital Pride Alliance and partner Pride organizations through the GivePride365 Fund. Every reservation will include a bottle of Rose Bubbly, and a celebration kit. This event will take place on June 9, 16, 23, and 30 from 3-9 p.m.

Bark Social (935 Prose St, North Bethesda, Md.) is partnering with Montgomery County Council member Evan Glass to celebrate D.C. Pride with a PAWrade and canine costume contest on Saturday, June 12 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. This beer garden and coffee house for dogs and humans will create a rainbow-filled canine festival of pride + paws.

The bar will pour a special Pride-inspired cocktail with proceeds donated to the Moco Reconnect Center to work with other local creating inclusive spaces for LGBTQ+ youth.

Capital Pride is hosting a citywide Sunday funday on June 13 to support local LGBTQ businesses with the first-ever city-wide Taste of Pride Brunch. Various local restaurants have made a commitment to support Pride and local LGBTQ+ charities, featuring food items, drink specials, and entertainment. The event will raise awareness and resources for the GivePride365 Fund, benefiting local LGBTQ+ charities, and help to ensure the return of a full-scale Pride in 2022.

The speakeasy-style back room at Capo Deli (715 Florida Ave.) rounds out Pride weekend parties with an post-brunch event Sunday, June 13, 2-5 p.m. The event, called Bubbles & Bass, features DJ Babbitt and DJ Chris Adam playing disco over rose, Champagne, and other drink specials.

Caboose Commons (2918 Eskridge Rd., Fairfax, Va.) and its dog-friendly patio is hosting an event for Pride on Saturday, June 19 with Beer Babes Drag. There will be two seatings (12 p.m. and 3 p.m.) and a portion of sales (including items sold) will support PFLAG and the National LGBTQ Task Force.

Celebrate PRIDE with a staycation, via Kimpton Monaco. This hotel is the Trevor Project’s “Premiere National Hotel Partner.” When guests make a reservation at Hotel Monaco D.C., Kimpton will donate $10/night to The Trevor Project, and guests receive 15% off the hotel’s “Best Flexible Rate.”

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Two new books celebrate Old Hollywood glory Revisiting lives of Liz Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Alfred Hitchcock

By KATHI WOLFE

LIZ TAYLOR and MONTGOMERY CLIFT, who was gay, had a long, close friendship.

(Photo courtesy Kensington)

‘Elizabeth and Monty: The Untold Story of Their Intimate Friendship’

By Charles Casillo c.2021, Kensington $27 | 389 pages

‘The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock’

By Edward White c.2021, W. W. Norton & Company $28.95 | 379 pages

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If you’re queer, especially if you’re of a certain age, old Hollywood is embedded in your DNA. For those of us besotted by classic movies — there can never be too many books about Tinseltown.

Two new books — “Elizabeth and Monty” by Charles Casillo and “The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock” by Edward White — will satisfy your old Hollywood jones.

“Elizabeth and Monty” is the riveting story of the intimate friendship of Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.

Few people are loved more by the LGBTQ community than Elizabeth Taylor. Who will ever forget Taylor as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” or as Maggie in “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof?”

Taylor raised millions for AIDS research long before any celeb or politico even said the word “AIDS.” People with AIDS weren’t objects of charity to Taylor. She had many queer friends and hung out at gay bars.

Montgomery Clift, who lived from 1920 to 1966, was a talented actor. Because of the time in which he lived, he had to be closeted about his sexuality. Because of the homophobia in the society and Hollywood then, the support of friends was crucial to Clift and other LGBTQ people of that era.

For much of his life, Clift had health problems that caused him pain. Partly as a result of pain, he had issues with drinking and drug addiction. His behavior could be erratic and uncouth. (He had a penchant for eating food off of other people’s plates.)

Despite Clift’s troubles, you become transfixed by his brooding intensity – whether you’re watching him in “The Heiress,” “From Here to Eternity” or “Red River.”

If you have a heartbeat, you’ll feel the chemistry between Clift and Taylor when they’re on screen together in “A Place in the Sun.” Though Clift was queer and Taylor was hetero, they were the closest of friends.

From the prologue onward, Casillo draws you into their friendship. The book opens on the evening when Clift, driving home from a party, was in a terrible car accident.

He’d crashed into a telephone pole.

Taylor went to Clift who was lying bleeding on the road.

“Realizing he was choking on his teeth,” Casillo adds, “she instinctively stuck her fingers down his throat and pulled out two broken teeth, clearing the passageway.”

Taylor stuck by Clift when many of his friends distanced themselves from him.

Taylor insisted that Clift be cast in “Reflections in a Golden Eye.” She put up her own salary as insurance for Clift when no one would insure him (because of his health and substance abuse issues).

It’s clear from “Elizabeth and Monty” that Clift was as important to Taylor as she was to him. Their relationship wasn’t sexual, writes Casillo, author of “Marilyn Monroe: The Private Life of a Public Icon” and “Outlaw The Lives and Careers of John Rechy.” Yet, there was an emotional intensity – a romantic quality – in their friendship.

Clift nurtured Taylor. He coached Taylor, who he called Bessie Mae, on her acting. He thought Taylor was beautiful, yet understood what it was like for Taylor when people only saw her for her beauty.

“Monty, Elizabeth likes me, but she loves you,” Richard Burton is reported to have said to Clift.

There are good biographies of Taylor – such as William Mann’s “How To Be A Movie Star: Elizabeth Taylor in

Hollywood” and of Clift – most notably Patricia Bosworth’s “Montgomery Clift: A Biography.”

Even so, “Elizabeth and Monty” sheds new light on the intense friendship of two queer icons. Check it out. It will imbue you with renewed love and respect not only for Taylor and Clift but for your own friends.

Without Alfred Hitchcock, I’d never make it through the pandemic.

The COVID vaccines are wonderful! But, I’d never get out of my sweatpants without the suspense and glam of Hitchcock’s movies.

Nothing is more comforting than watching serial killer Uncle Charlie in “Shadow of a Doubt” or, with Grace Kelly, James Stewart and Thelma Ritter, observing the murderer in “Rear Window.”

What is more pleasurable than ogling the gorgeous midcentury apartment where a murder has been committed in “Rope?”

Of course, I’m far from alone in loving Hitchcock. Hetero and queer viewers are Hitchcock fans.

Everyone from your straight, straitlaced granny to your bar-hopping queer grandson has had nightmares about the shower scene in “Pyscho.” Or had a crush on Gary Grant or Eva Marie Saint in “North by Northwest.”

From the glam in “Rear Window” to Bruno and Guy in “Strangers on a Train,” it’s clear that Hitchcock’s movies have a queer quotient and a special appeal to LGBTQ viewers.

There are more biographies and studies of Hitchcock’s life and work than you could count. Or would want to read.

Yet, “The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock” by Edward White is a good read.

In elegant, precise writing, White illuminates Hitchcock’s life and work by examining 12 aspects of his complex personality. As with all of us, the whole of Hitchcock’s self was more than the components of his personality. Any life, despite the most assiduous biographer’s investigations, remains somewhat of a mystery.

White explores how “Hitchcock” the phenomenon was invented as well as what made Hitchcock the person tick.

He carries out this exploration by writing about Hitchcock as everything from “The Fat Man” to “The Murderer” to “The Dandy” to “The Voyeur” to “The Londoner” to “The Family Man” to “The Man of God.” Hitchcock was a family man who loved his wife, yet, at times, gazed in, to put it mildly an unsavory manner, at some of the actresses such as Tippi Hedren, in his films.

Impeccably dressed in a Victorian-era suite, he plotted films about murder and rape with his wife (and frequent uncredited collaborator) Alma at his side.

For a half century, “Hitchcock’s persona was the active ingredient in the most celebrated of his 53 films,” White writes, “the way Oscar Wilde’s was in his plays, and Andy Warhol’s was in his art.”

Hitchcock stands alone in the Hollywood canon, White writes, “a director whose mythology eclipses the brilliance of his myriad classic movies.”

The span of Hitchcock’s career was immense — from the time of silent films to the 3-D era. His work, White, a “Paris Review” contributor, writes, runs the gamut from thrillers to screwball comedy to horror to film noir to social realism.

Read “The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock.” It’ll take you inside the mosaic of the fab filmmaker’s life and work.

Then, break out the popcorn and “Dial M for Murder.”

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CALENDAR

Virginia Gov. RALPH NORTHAM, shown here at NoVa Pride in 2018, announced a monthlong series of Pride events. (Blade file photo)

By PRINCE CHINGARANDE

Friday, June 11 Prince George’s County Memorial Library System (PGCMLS) will host “Rainbow Read Aloud: Pride - Friends are Family” virtually at 10 a.m. The PGCMLS staff will have virtual read-aloud programs for you and your family to enjoy at home. Join them for stories, songs, and more in celebration of LGBTQ friends and families. Recommended ages for this event are 2-5. Visit https://ww1.pgcmls.info/event/5156821 for more information.

The “Capital Pride Honors,” hosted by the Capital Pride Alliance will be at 7 p.m. at Compass Coffee Ivy City, 1401 Okie St., N.E. Honors start at 7 p.m. and the opening party begins at 10 p.m. The event will acknowledge outstanding individuals, leaders, and activists in the National Capital Region who have furthered causes important to the LGBTQ+ community. Limited tickets are available online. This is an 18+ years event only.

“Pride at PGCMLS: Drag Bingo + Happy Hour” will be online at 5:30 p.m. Join PGCMLS as they celebrate their second annual drag-hosted “Pride at PGCMLS” event.

Bring your rainbow fan, grab a cocktail/mocktail and join for free bingo and entertainment with local queen Emerald Star and friends. Adults only. For more information, visit: pgcmls.info.

Saturday, June 12 The Four Seasons will host a Pride brunch at Bourbon Steak D.C. in collaboration with Nora Lee at 11 a.m. The event will feature DJ Tezrah with performer Logan Stone. A portion of the proceeds from each bottomless brunch will benefit the Equality Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Capital Pride to raise awareness and relief funds for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs and businesses. You can reserve a table online.

Capital Pride Celebration 2021’s “Pride Walk and Rally” will be at 12 p.m. This event will begin at Dupont Circle and end at Freedom Plaza. For more information, visit capitalpride.org.

“Pride on Steps of National City Christian Church” begins at 3 p.m. Come celebrate the beginning of Pride on the steps of National City Christian Church with the Gay Men’s Chorus: Potomac Fever concluding with a local Bluegrass band. More information is available at capitalpride.org.

Sunday, June 13 The Flashy Group and The Cherry Fund will host “House of Sound” at 4 a.m. at 645 Florida Ave., N.W. This event is an after-hours rooftop and sunrise party featuring music

by Sean Morris, Isaac Escalante, and Shayne Marcus. You can purchase tickets online.

Join Capital Pride Alliance for a Sunday Funday to support local LGBTQ+ businesses as they celebrate Pride with the first-ever city-wide Taste of Pride Brunch. “Taste of Pride Brunch” will be at an exclusive group of restaurants including Doi Moi, Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant, Hedy’s Rooftop, Le Diplomate, and more. For more information, visit capitalpride.org/brunch/.

Monday, June 14 Join the DC Center for its virtual job club, 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. The event begins on Zoom at 6 p.m. For more information, email careercenters@thedccenter. org.

The Center Aging Coffee Drop-In will still take place virtually at 10 a.m. via Zoom.

LGBT Older Adults (and friends) are invited to have friendly conversations about current issues they might be dealing with. For more information, visit Center Aging’s Facebook page, facebook.com/centeraging.

Tuesday, June 15 Still We Gather! Center Faith will have a Zoom gathering at 7 p.m. to honor the LGBTQ community’s losses, finding ways to cope, finding sources of hope, and taking action to respond to needs and build resilience. An interfaith panel will follow at 8 p.m.

Featured musicians include All Souls Jubilee Singers and John Kaboff, cellist. Free Zoom invites are available at: centerfaithdc.wordpress.com/contact/ Join the Greenbelt Library System for a book discussion of “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernadine Evaristo. The book discussion will be hosted virtually and will begin at 7 p.m.

Wednesday, June 16 Join Michelle Hamiel of Prince George’s County Memorial Library System for a book discussion of Dwayne Ratleff’s “Dancing to the Lyrics.” The book is a firsthand account of Grant Cole, an African-American gay youth who perseveres in spite of personal and family obstacles. This event will be hosted virtually at 7 p.m. More information is available on YouTube.

Thursday, June 17 Join the Equality Chamber of Commerce D.C. Metro for “Moxy DC- Play on Pride,” its core monthly networking series. This month’s event will be hosted at The Moxy Washington D.C. Downtown at 6:30 p.m. For more information, visit the group online.

OUT & ABOUT

Virtual Baltimore AIDS Walk raises $185,000

page. In addition, donations will continue to be accepted through June 30, and you can visit BaltimoreAIDSWalk.org to make a contribution.

The Virtual Baltimore AIDS Walk & Music Festival took place June 6 to support HIV services provided by Chase Brexton Healthcare and its community partners.

The event drew 250 walkers, runners, and bikers across more than 50 teams who surpassed their fundraising goal by $20,000, raising $185,000 on their AIDS Walk personal fundraising page. Participants tracked their miles between May 23 to June 5 using the Strava fitness mobile app.

The fundraiser ended with a virtual music festival featuring performances by Baltimore’s own Eze Jackson, Wendel Patrick, and Jasmine Pope. Funds raised for Chase Brexton will support the organization’s prescription delivery program, and ensure that nearly 60,000 prescriptions filled by Chase Brexton’s four pharmacies will be delivered directly to patients’ doorsteps.

To watch the event’s full program, visit the group’s YouTube

National Museum of the American Indian celebrates Pride

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The Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian will celebrate Pride month with an online panel featuring Indigenous youth on Thursday, June 17 at 4 p.m. Panelists will include Indigenous youth working in education, health, cultural heritage, and the arts.

The topic of discussion will focus on how identity influences activism and panelists will participate in amplifying Two Spirit (people who identify as possessing both male and female spirits) and Native LGBTQ+ voices and issues.

Closed captioning for this program will be available in both English and Spanish, and registration is available

online at the Smithsonian’s website.

Northam declares June LGBTQ+ Pride month in Va. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam on June 4 officially declared June as LGBTQ+ Pride month to celebrate the commonwealth’s LGBTQ+ communities, their achievements and contributions, and their fight for inclusion and equality.

“This Pride month, we are reminded of the resilience of LGBTQ+ Americans and their fight for inclusion and acceptance and equal access to services and opportunities,” said Northam.

Northam further encouraged Virginians to participate in Pride month activities that are to be hosted by his administration and community organizations taking place online and in-person throughout the Commonwealth.

A comprehensive event schedule is available on the governor’s website.

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Triumphant ‘In the Heights’ is the musical we need An infectious celebration of community, driven by a Latin beat

By JOHN PAUL KING

As the long-awaited film version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s “In the Heights” hits the screen this weekend, it’s impossible not to reflect on the fate of the Hollywood musical.

Once one of the movie industry’s most popular genres, the musical has been an inseparable part of Hollywood history ever since sound first came to the silver screen in 1927, launching a “golden age” in which the genre ruled the box office for more than 30 years.

Then the ‘60s happened. A generation disillusioned and distrustful of the “American Dream” hungered for edgier material than the old-fashioned fare enjoyed by their parents. The old studio system was failing, and although it managed to score some hits with blockbuster adaptations of Broadway shows like “My Fair Lady” and “The Sound of Music,” by the end of the decade such movies felt incredibly tone-deaf in an American culture torn apart by turmoil. The country had lost its innocence, and despite occasional attempts to “reboot” the genre in the years ever since, the reign of the Hollywood musical was effectively over.

Until now, perhaps.

“In the Heights” arrives with a considerable amount of anticipation behind it. Adapted from the Tony-winning 2008 Broadway hit that brought Lin-Manuel Miranda into the limelight and paved the way for him to create “Hamilton” a few years later, it centers on a hard-working bodega owner named Usnavi (Anthony Ramos), who serves as our guide for a sweeping musical portrait of Manhattan’s Washington Heights – an area mostly populated by Latin people of color from immigrant families – that follows the stories of several interconnected characters as they pursue their hopes and dreams. With songs by Miranda and a script by Quiara Alegría Hudes (who also wrote the book for the stage production), it showcases a diverse cast that also includes Corey Hawkins, Leslie Grace, Melissa Barrera, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Stephanie Beatriz, Gregory Diaz IV, Dascha Polanco, Jimmy Smits, Marc Anthony, and Olga Merediz, reprising her Broadway role as Abuela Claudia. Even Miranda himself shows up in the ensemble.

Needless to say, there was a lot of buzz around the film even before its release was postponed for a year due to COVID. If you’re wondering if it lives up to that buzz, the answer is a resounding “yes.” Onstage, “In the Heights” was an infectious celebration of community, driven by an irresistible Latin beat and infused with an uplifting message about following your dreams in the face of adversity. On film, as directed by John M. Chu (“Crazy Rich Asians”), it more than meets the challenge of translating all that energy to the screen – and in the process, it accomplishes a whole lot more.

First and foremost, it delivers the almost euphoric refreshment that comes from seeing a major

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Hollywood film populated almost entirely by people of color. In today’s cultural environment, the power of this cannot be overstated.

Yet “In the Heights” does not let itself get weighed down by any perceived importance.

Instead, it wins us over with good-natured approachability, personified by the endearing and charismatic Ramos in what deserves to be a star-making performance. He is joined by an ensemble of co-stars whose talents are quickly proven to be a match for his own.

The pool dance scene from ‘In the Heights.’

Chu leans into the strength of his players, but he also recognizes that the real star of “In the Heights” is its music, and unlike many modern musicals, his movie fully embraces its songs as its entire reason for being. Miranda’s extensive score is delivered largely intact, affording the composer’s signature blend of showtunes and rap the spotlight it deserves. Even more importantly, Chu (aided by gifted collaborators like cinematographer Alice Brooks and choreographer Christopher Scott) uses it as a platform on which to build something truly audacious and wholly unexpected – a triumphant return to form for the Hollywood musical.

There have been new entries in the genre in the years since its decline, and a few of them, like Bob Fosse’s “Cabaret,” have even been great films. Still, these and other such successful one-offs have bent the formula to meet the prevailing cynicism of the postmodern age, merging reality with fantasy in a way that minimizes the need for jaded contemporary audiences to suspend their disbelief when a character bursts into song. They succeed not because they embrace the traditional conceits of the art form, but because they reinvent them – and often, with a palpable sense of irony.

The old musicals required no such tactics. Rather than distancing audiences from the escapism of the format, they encouraged people to revel in it. There was a kind of magic being projected on the screen, and everybody in the theater was not only willing, but eager to believe in it. Moviegoers today are no longer able to accept that kind of artificiality – or at least, that’s become the conventional wisdom in Hollywood, which seems to have forgotten how to make a musical that doesn’t feel like it’s actually apologizing for being a musical.

“In the Heights” never apologizes. Executed with breathtaking cinematic vision and a healthy dose of “magical realism” that does nothing to undercut its streetwise swagger, “In the Heights” comes closer than any film in recent memory to recapturing the elusive charm that made the musical genre the pinnacle of cinematic excellence for so many decades. Filled with one dazzling musical number after another, it pays homage to its heritage – a swimming pool sequence suggests the intricate spectacles conceived by Busby Berkeley, a sublime pas de deux on a fire escape evokes MGM’s masterful technicolor dreamscapes of the 1950s, the film’s location cinematography invites associations with “West Side Story” — while audaciously asserting itself as a product of its own time. And though it acknowledges the hardships faced by its characters in a modern world – gentrification, threat of deportation, economic struggle, bigotry – it counters those realities with a generous spirit of empathy and inclusion (and yes, that includes LGBTQ people, too) and manages to elicit the kind of un-ironic hope that shone like a beacon in those glorious musicals of old. It makes us want to believe in the magic.

Whether or not that’s enough to revive the Hollywood musical, only time will tell. In the meantime, “In the Heights” is exactly what we need after enduring the long isolation of a pandemic – and although it’s being simultaneously released on HBO Max, it’s also the perfect excuse to venture into a theater once more.

It deserves to be seen on the big screen, and you deserve to see it there.

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Local theaters come to life to celebrate Pride

Kennedy Center, GALA, Olney and more offer live and virtual events

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

With reopening comes opportunities to celebrate Pride with live performances.

For the first time in more than a year, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington’s Potomac Fever Ensemble will be performing together live. The small, close-knit harmony a cappella group is presenting a fun mix of contemporary pop, crowd favorites, and Broadway songs at National Christian City Church at 5 Thomas Circle, N.W., on Saturday, June 12 at 3 p.m. Admission is free. Gmcw.org And if you move fast, there’s still time to catch an outdoor performance of Solas Nua’s production of “In the Middle of the Fields.” Penned by Deirdre Kinahan (“Wild Sky,” “The Frederick Douglass Project”), the new work “centers on Eithne, who is undergoing chemo-therapy for breast cancer. Stepping out of her house and into the nearby fields, she wonders what her life will be like on the other side of recovery from a deadly disease.”

Directed by Laley Lippard and featuring talented local actors Jessica Lefkow, Caroline Dubberly, and Ryan Sellers, the aptly titled play is staged outdoors at P Street Beach in Dupont Circle. Audiences are seated at a distance; blankets and chairs are available for seating options. Solasnua.org GALA Hispanic Theatre continues its return to live performances with “Ella es tango” (“She is tango”) through the end of June. An original musical revue conceived by GALA artistic director Hugo Medrano with texts by Patricia Suárez and featuring artists from Argentina and the U.S., it highlights the contribution of women composers and singers to sexy but traditionally male dominated genre.

“Ella es tango” is performed indoors at GALA’s bijou space in Columbia Heights, and starting June 11, 2021, the theatre capacity increases and seats will be assigned three feet apart (every third seat) instead of six feet apart (every fifth seat). Galatheatre.org The Olney Theatre Center (OTC) boasts an impressive lineup of summer offerings for its outdoor, open air amphitheater, the Root Family Stage.

Beginning late July through the end of August, OTC presents the weekly Friday night Andrew A. Isen Cabaret Series featuring some of the DMV’s top musical talents featured in some exciting SOLOMON PARKER is Echinacea Monroe in ‘Olney in Drag,’ coming to Olney Theatre Center in August. (Photo courtesy Parker) combinations.

The pairs include Awa Sal Secka and out actor Bobby Smith (July 23); Ines Nassara and Tracy Lynn Olivera (July 30); Donna Migliaccio, and Nova Payton (August 6); Rayanne Gonzales and local gay performer Rayshun Lamarr who appeared as a contestant on TV’s “The Voice” (August 13); Greg Maheu and Vishal Vaidya (August 20); and finally, Malinda Kathleen Reese and Alan Wiggins (August 27).

And for two free performances on consecutive Wednesday nights in August, OTC presents “Olney in Drag” where audiences are asked to “enjoy a drink as these fabulous drag queens shine brighter than the stars in the evening sky.” The first show (August 18) features Brooklyn Heights, Betty O’Hellno, Ariel Von Quinn, and Evon Michelle.

Queens taking the stage for the second show (August 25) include Kristina Kelly, Vagenesis, Tiara Missou (David Singleton who appeared in “Elf the Musical” at OTC), and Echinacea Monroe (terrific out actor Solomon Parker). Olneytheatre.org Also this summer, the Kennedy Center has big outdoor plans for its wide-open, riverside REACH campus.

The Millennium Stage is scheduled to present free outdoor experiences ranging from live music and film screenings to dance lessons, yoga sessions, arts markets, and more.

Slated programming promises to celebrate varied cultures and styles, and work in partnership with the UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, National Theater for the Deaf, Smithsonian Asian American Center, Creative Nomads, SAMASAMA, D.C. Legendary Musicians, Step Afrika, and members of the Drag community, as well as internal collaborations with the Kennedy Center’s Culture Caucus. Kennedy-center.org And while the Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) isn’t venturing outdoors yet, they are continuing to present “Blindness,” a brilliant piece about pandemic and societal breakdown featuring the voice of Juliet Stevenson, at Sidney Harman Hall through July 3. The unforgettable experience remains an in-person theatrical installation with socially distanced seating; 40 audience members per event; and masks required indoors).

And “All the Devils Are Here: How Shakespeare Invented the Villain starring Patrick Page” continues to stream until July 28.

Looking forward to September, STC’s first full production will be a two-week limited engagement of gay writer James Baldwin’s “The Amen Corner” from Sept. 14-26 in Sidney Harman Hall, completing its glorious run that was cut short by COVID in March 2020. Shakespearetheatre.org

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GMCW TURNS 40 Celebrating 40 Years of raising our voice with new musical performances, highlights and favorite moments from over the years, special guests, and much more!

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LADY GAGA on tour in 2017.

aga announces Born his Way reissue for iconic album s th Announcement comes with a new recording of udas by Big reedia

By JOHN PAUL KING

It’s been a decade since Lady Gaga gave her Little Monsters a gift for the ages with the album “Born This Way” – hard to believe, but it’s true – and we’ve all been grateful ever since.

It turns out Gaga is grateful to her fans, too, and to show it, the diva has announced the release of a new special edition Born his Way he enth nniversary album, to be released via Interscope on une . he new release will feature new pac aging and include all of the iconic songs from the original release of the Born his Way album, alongside six “reimagined” versions of songs from the album. Each of these new cuts have been created by artists who represent and advocate for the LGBTQIA+ community, whose identities will be revealed over the next few weeks.

Fortunately, we don’t have to wait for all of them. In celebration of Gaga’s announcement, the first reimagined trac dropped today udas, by Bounce music icon Big reedia. It s now available on all music platforms, and you can watch the video below. f the recording, Big redia says udas was my favorite song when it came out originally, so I really wanted to cover it. I am beyond excited that it s the first to drop from this pro ect. o me, udas is a love song about when someone does you dirty. I’ve sure had my experience with that. Who can’t relate?”

Besides udas, the other trac s to be covered on Born his Way Reimagined” are “Marry the Night,” “Highway Unicorn (Road to Love),” “Yoü and I,” “The Edge of Glory,” and the tantalizingly titled “Born This Way (The Country Road Version).”

The new anniversary edition comes on the heels of Lady Gaga celebrating the year anniversary of the original album and its legacy last wee in West ollywood, where a proclamation was issued naming ay as Born his Way Day” and the beloved icon received the keys to the city.

“Through her music and activism, Lady Gaga has become a cultural icon for our generation,” said WeHo Mayor Lindsey P. Horvath, who announced the new holiday and presented the ady with the ey. he anthem Born his Way has become an out and proud declarative stance for countless B people. he Born his Way oundation co founded by aga and her mother, Cynthia Germanotta] fosters honest conversations about mental health with young people and seeks to eradicate the stigma around mental health struggles.”

In addition to the special album edition, Lady Gaga has launched a special Born his Way merchandise collection, with the brand new designs now available at shop.ladygaga.com. s for the album, it s available for pre order right now. What are you waiting for?

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LOV E W HER E YOU LI V E .

MATTIA D’AFFUSO 240.464.5626 MDAFFUSO@TTRSIR.COM

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Valerie M. Blake

is a licensed Associate Broker in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia with RLAH Real Estate. Call or text her at 202-246-8602, email her via DCHomeQuest.com, or follow her on Facebook at TheRealst8ofAffairs.

(Photo courtesy of Pantone)

The trendiest paint colors of 2021

Ultimate Gray, Illuminating, Urbane Bronze among year’s hues

By VALERIE M. BLAKE

Last year, I decided to forego writing about the paint colors of the year, since many people in our vibrant community were out of work. Buying Farrow and Ball paint for a gallon, it would seem, was not the first thing on their to do lists.

So here we are in 2021 where the Pantone color of the year is…wait for it…Ultimate Gray.

Aren’t we tired of gray yet? Sure, Pantone pairs it with an outrageously bright yellow called Illuminating, which I would have guessed was a blue toned white had I not seen it online. The combination of gray and yellow has been used in linens and fabrics for several years, albeit in softer hues, so while the stronger hues have been updated for , I don t find them fresh or e citing anymore. here is an array of colors in the lineup this year that are reminiscent of dirt. Dulu has Brave Ground, a neutral earth tone that “creates a feeling of stability, growth and potential, and provides a firm foundation for change and creativity. hat sounds li e a color I need to have in my paint collection just to write articles, negotiate real estate contracts, and watch the news.

Sherwin Williams brings us rbane Bron e, which they describe as sophisticated and rooted in nature. arvard naturalist Dr. Edward Wilson would have li ened it to biophilia, a term he coined for humankind’s desire to search for “a connection to nature and other forms of life. I thin it would accent cicadas nicely.

Contemplative, the 2021 choice from Pratt and Lambert paints, is a color to think about. It’s a deep moss like that found in the rainforest or on the front of my house. I guess it s time for a power wash. eal has been around for decades, but it became so over used that years ago, Crayola removed Teal Blue from its crayon collection. Now it’s back in Benjamin Moore’s egean eal, a deep, muted blue green gray combination, the ocean s e uivalent of mossy Contemplative.

Southwestern dirt is represented by Behr’s Canyon Dusk, which looks a little like a New e ico landscape on a hot, dry day, without the cacti interspersed or the mountains on the hori on. r try it on the e terior of your organic adobe home. lidden suggests using its choice, ua iesta, a softer, muted tur uoise

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a ua blend that won t overpower your bedroom, bathroom and itchen walls, and will promote a feeling of calm where used.

Dutch Boy has selected Earth s armony for . While the name implies a brown tone, this color is actually a cheerful blue that takes you to the moon and back. (Well, to the sky anyway.) Check out how it looks on kitchen cabinets on Dutch Boy’s website. orget the gray on the bottom and white on the top cabinet theme and liven up your kitchen with this vibrant color.

Now, if you’re not already on overload, Valspar gives us 12 new colors to select from.

Many are neutral and all are muted.

The brown and tan tones include Maple Leaf (think Vermont maple syrup candy), Unforgettable (a perfectly forgettable beige), Arizona Dust (refer to Behr’s Canyon Dusk above), and Gallery Gray (gray is possibly a misnomer – it looks tan to me). he blues and greens are ucy Blue teal by another name , Blissful Blue a mid toned blue gray), Granite Dust (a very light blend of green and gray), Garden Flower (a happy green with only a touch of gray), and Academy Gray (more akin to teal than gray and the darkest of their 2021 choices).

In addition, alspar gives us Soft Candlelight a not too bright yellow , Cherry aupe (a neutral with slightly pink tones), and my favorite, Dusty Lavender (true to its name, although anything called Dusty makes me want to go and take a shower).

Clar and ensington paint combines its colors into three collections of si colors each nderstated Impact, indful iving, and Creative Escape, which sound li e things to ruminate about while doing goat yoga.

Each collection features hues that are li e the blues, greens, tans, and grays created by every other paint company. he one e ception is ed ulip, found in the nderstated Impact collection. It’s more of a ruby or garnet than a true red, but it’s nice to see someone paint outside the bo .

This month, I hope to see more decorating in gem colors: Garnet, Amber, Citrine, Emerald, Sapphire, and methyst, with accents of Smo y uart and iger Eye, and a smattering of S y Blue opa , ose uart , and earls. ow, wouldn t that ma e a nice ag Stay colorful, my friends.

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Urban Meets Traditional in Old Town Alexandria!

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Art & Architecture Reception 4 1 3 S PAY N E S T R E E T, A L E X A N D R I A , VA 2 2 3 1 4 T H U R S D AY, J U N E 1 7 , 2 0 2 1 | 5 - 7 P M Featuring the colorful contemporary art of Torpedo Factory Artists Marsha Staiger and Charlene Nield.

Lisa Groover REALTOR® | $20 MILLION + IN 2020 NVAR Platinum Top Producer | Licensed in VA m 703.919.4426 | LGroover@McEnearney.com | LisaGroover.com 109 S. Pitt Street, Alexandria, VA 22314 | 703.549.9292 | McEnearney.com | Equal Housing Opportunity

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DEMOS WANTED

COUNSELING

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MEN FOR MEN

ARTISTS NEEDED . IDM/EDM DEMOS PLEASE. Visit: idm-edm.com.

COUNSELING FOR LGBTQ People Individual couple counseling with a volunteer peer counselor.

CC, servicing since . . gaymenscounseling.org. o fees, donation re uested.

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SEEKING: PHARMACIST MIKE

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EMPLOYMENT OFFICE MANAGER FINANCIAL dvisory firm leading the support team for a bouti ue B owned financial advisory firm in Silver Spring D focus on sustainable investing. n d.in g t to apply or resume to ran oler .com.

WHOLISTIC SERVICES INC. is loo ing for dedicated individuals to wor as Direct Support Professionals assisting intellectually disabled adults with behavioral health comple ities in our residential location in the District of Columbia aryland.

Job Requirements bility to lift up to lbs.

Completion of re uired trainings prior to hire, Completion of rained edication Certifications E and or C Certified edication echnician within months of hire, Cleared D bac ground Chec prior to hire, alid Driver s icense, alid C Irst id, egative C ID test results prior to start of wor ta en within days prior to date of hire . C ID vaccination within days of hire.

Contact the Human Resources Department @ 202-832-8787 for information.

ADOPTION, DONOR, SURROGACY legal services. Jennifer represents LGBTQ clients in DC, MD & VA JFairfax@Jenniferfairfax.com.

LIMOUSINES KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE Since . ay eteran wner perator. u ury B W i Sedan. roper DC icense ivery Insured. www. asper ivery.com. hone .

HOUSING SHARE/ DC GWM ISO SAME TO SHARE ELEGANT home in SW DC. tilities, maid par ing are included. W D, DW, iltered Water ice machine, cable Wi i, garden but no yard wor , outdoor galleries for tanning, coc tails, etc. riendly, but non intrusive, housemate landlord. ent reduced. Bruce .

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ou will love this B Bath Cape Cod in Cheverly, D, minutes from Capitol ill DC, wal to etro. E cellent town Community.Call Celeste or cduplaa comcast.net. https www.realtor.com realestateandhomes detail awthorne St Cheverly D photo

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PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

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uiet, peaceful, country setting ust minutes from eorgia venue and the ICC wal ing distance to oots, Starbuc s, lney anor Swim Center Stream running through wooded property is ideal for nature lovers and ids who li e to e plore dragon ies, butter ies, frogs, crayfish, and turtles isit this lin https tour.truplace.com property

DEADLINES All Classified Ads Must Be Received By Tuesday at 5PM To Be Included

in That Week’s Edition of Washington Blade!

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REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation, or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations and warranties.

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Experience isn’t expensive, it’s priceless!

Serving the LGBTQ Community in DC, MD & VA for over 30 YEARS

NEEDING TO SHOW OUR PRIDE TODAY MORE THAN EVER!

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REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof.

Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation, or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations and warranties.

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202-277-4675 / 202-326-1300 BillPanici@aol.com • BillPanici.com “I sell homes the old-fashioned way . . . one-at-a-time.”

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Summer Activities in the DMV With places opening back up and more people getting vaccinated, I’ve curated the perfect list of fun events and activities to do this summer in the DMV. 1

Catch an outdoor movie near the waterfront. Both The Wharf great for all ages.

2

3

Looking to get away from the urbanscape, head over to Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens for blooming water lilies and lotus. Admire the picturesque views and spot wildlife throughout the park.

4 Take a quick getaway trip to Loudoun County, Virginia’s wine country. Choose from many wineries and breweries, or even extend your stay at a nearby boutique bed and breakfast in Middleburg, VA! 5 Check out a new exhibit. Museums are continuing to reopen and welcome visitors, with new exhibits that are yearning to be seen!

Check out the summer edition of Georgetown Glow.

Admire beautiful light installations and be sure to snap an Instagrammable photo while you’re at it.

Michael Moore Realtor® Over 29 Years of Experience Licensed in DC, MD, VA

M: 202.262.7762 O: 202.386.6330 Washington, DC 20005

Compass is a licensed real estate brokerage that abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. Compass is licensed as Compass Real Estate in DC and as Compass in Virginia and Maryland.

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