Washingtonblade.com, Volume 52, Issue 35, August 27, 2021 by Washington Blade

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VOLUME 52 ISSUE 35 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 TINASHE 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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Comings & Goings

Fowlkes named to D.C. Police Complaints Board By PETER ROSENSTEIN

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: comingsandgoings@washblade.com. Congratulations to Earl D. Fowlkes, Jr. on his appointment to the D.C. Police Complaints Board by Mayor Muriel Bowser. He said, “It is a privilege to serve on this important board particularly during this time in our District. I will work hard and be fair to ensure justice is being served to everyone who walks into the Office of Police Complaints.” Fowlkes is president and CEO of the Center for Black Equity, Inc. Prior to that, he served for 15 years as the executive director of the DC CARE Consortium and Damien Ministries, organizations that provided services to Persons Living With HIV/AIDS in D.C. Fowlkes has worked on health, political, and LGBTQ issues EARL D. FOWLKES, JR. in many communities for nearly 30 years. He currently serves on the Damien Ministries Board of Directors. He previously served two terms as chair of the DC Commission on Human Rights; chair of the D.C. Mayor’s GLBTQ Advisory Committee; community co-chair of the D.C. HIV Prevention Community Planning Group; and a member of the D.C. Commission on the Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday. Fowlkes is committed to a progressive political agenda for the Black and LGBTQ communities, and currently serves as the Democratic National Committee LGBT Caucus Chair and on the DNC Executive Committee. He has received numerous honors and awards for his community service and was named one of three 2013 grand marshals of the Heritage of Pride (NYC Gay Pride) along with Harry Belafonte and Edith Windsor. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University in New Jersey.

Congratulations also to Kristine Kippens on her new position as Deputy Legal Director for Policy with Lambda Legal. She said, “I am a fierce supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and have dedicated my life to the collective liberation of marginalized people in this country. Joining the nation’s oldest and largest legal organization advancing the civil rights of LGBTQ people and everyone living with HIV and being part of a large team of more than 30 lawyers and paraprofessionals to help guide its public policy work is a dream come true.” Prior to this, Kippens was director of policy for the Constitutional Accountability Center, where she helped make more real the promises of the KRISTINE KIPPENS Constitution. Before that she served as a federal policy counsel at the Center for Reproductive Rights. She has also worked for the American Constitution Society for Law and Policy (ACS) and Lowndes, Drosdick, Doster, Kantor & Reed, P.A., Orlando, Fla. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and her J.D. from William & Mary Law School. Congratulations also to the Victory Institute’s Victory Empowerment Fellows (VEF). This fellowship is for emerging LGBTQ leaders of color and transgender leaders who seek to expand their campaign skills and policy-making power and be part of a strong cohort of movement leaders from across the country. Fellows attend LGBTQ-specific training and the International LGBTQ Leaders Conference, and participate in a year-long mentorship program. Fellows: Deja Alvarez, Philadelphia; Jin-Soo Huh, Chicago; Kendall Martinez-Wright, Palmyra, Miss.; Jaylin McClinton, Chicago; Adri Perez, El Paso, Texas; Rep. Taylor Small, Winooski, Vt.; Rep. Mauree Turner, Oklahoma City, Okla.; and Brandon Wolf Orlando, Fla.

Gay Afro-Latino man running for Md. House of Delegates Ashanti Martinez hopes to represent District 22 in Annapolis By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

A Maryland House of Delegates candidate who hopes to become the first openly gay Afro-Latino man to represent Prince George’s County in the chamber says his priority is working families. “I’m in this race because I believe that we deserve a working class champion for working class families in Annapolis,” says Ashanti Martinez. “Industry has their people, big businesses have their people, but working ASHANTI MARTINEZ families haven’t had someone (Photo courtesy of Martinez) in their corner in Annapolis in a very intentional way.” Martinez is running to represent District 22 in Annapolis. State Del. Gabriel Acevero (D-Montgomery County) in 2018 became the first openly gay Afro-Latino man elected to the Maryland General Assembly. “I think [during the] pandemic we’ve really seen the need for a responsive government that [will] build out a safety net, hold all of us together, and [be] something that we don’t currently have for workers here in Maryland,” said Martinez. He wants to “be in the ring for round two of COVID-19” fight for individuals in the working class and families of which he’s a part, and most importantly, fight for himself.

Martinez’s campaign hinges on six main issues: Education, transportation, infrastructure, healthcare, criminal justice reform, and the environment. He hopes to expand the school meals program in Prince George’s County Public Schools; create green transport initiatives that make transportation easily accessible and affordable; and craft a senior-friendly healthcare system that reduces the cost of prescription drugs, hearing aids and dental services, among myriad other initiatives, if elected. His strategy is to connect with the seven different municipalities in District 22 and communicate with mayors, council members and other various stakeholders to better understand the shortcomings in their jurisdictions and devise solutions that will funnel resources into the district. “One of the biggest jobs a state delegate has is [to] make sure that local governments, whether county or municipal level, have the resources necessary to deliver services to [their] residents. So I know I’ll be able to do that going to Annapolis because I already understand the terrain a little bit better than most,” says Martinez. While it’s premature now to forecast the course of legislation after the election, Martinez is certain that his paramount duty will undoubtedly be to “bring back the bacon” through the yearly budget process. As someone who is entering an overly polarized American political landscape, Martinez is aware that he may have to battle the ever-present ruckus that persists in politics. He is, however, also steadfast at ensuring that this doesn’t cloud his responsibility to his constituency.

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“I actively have to remind myself not to make drama out of my drama,” says Martinez. “I think you get so much more done when you take yourself out of a situation, analyze it from that 30,000 feet conversation [standpoint], criticize yourself and realize that intent and impact are two separate things.” He recognizes that it is impossible to dictate people’s reactions, and this has given him the clarity that he can’t “make mountains out of molehills.” “I really try to power through things and understand the root causes of issues so that we can communicate through it because a lot of times things are just communication breakdowns, or just miscommunications on a large scale,” says Martinez. Martinez this year will be the first LGBTQ candidate to run to represent Prince George’s County in the House of Delegates. He is certain that while he is a “first,” he does not want to be the last. As an alum of Howard University, one of the nation’s leading historically Black colleges and universities, his modus operandi will include tapping into the legacy of HBCUs: Creating spaces and opportunities for Black people in all American institutions. “Once I’m in and [help] get other people in, I think [we’ll be able to] help break down some of the hurdles [associated] with the navigating government,” says Martinez. “I think because I’ve been doing this for such a long time, a lot of the players already have a relationship with me and they know my style. I’m not big on tribalism; I’m really about service and people, and getting results.”

Life’s too big for one level.

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Rehoboth Beach sued over refusal to approve theater buildings The lawsuit was filed on the theater’s behalf by attorneys A lawsuit filed on Aug. 13 by the Clear Space Theatre from the Wilmington law firm Barnes & Thornburg. It states Company in Rehoboth Beach, Del., charges the city’s mayor that the vote by the mayor and city commissioners denying and Board of Commissioners with violating local and state the theater’s building plans was in “legal error for multiple law by refusing to approve its plans to build a larger theater reasons.” and an adjacent rehearsal theater in a new location. Among other things, the lawsuit says the mayor and Clear Space filed its lawsuit in the Superior Court of commissioners incorrectly cite as one of their reasons for Delaware six weeks after the Board of Commissioners, turning down the theater’s building plans was that the which acts like a city council, and Rehoboth Mayor Stan Planning Commission approved the smaller of the two Mills, who’s a member of the board, voted for the second buildings to be used for educational purposes such as time in eight months to overturn a decision by the city’s theater classes. Opponents of the theater’s plans have Planning Commission to approve plans for the two new pointed out that allowing the building to be used for theater buildings. educational purposes would violate the zoning law unless Supporters of the theater project, including many Clear Space provides a large number of parking spaces of Rehoboth’s LGBTQ residents and summer visitors, on the site of the two theater buildings, something Clear expressed strong opposition to the Board of Commissioners’ Space was not able to do. and mayor’s decision. Supporters have said the action was But the lawsuit says the theater’s official application for based on opposition to the theaters by a small but vocal its new buildings does not call for an educational use of minority of homeowners and renters who don’t want the the buildings and that it was the Planning Commission that theater buildings near their homes, even though they added that provision to its approval of the plans on its own would be built on Rehoboth Avenue, which serves as the as an “accessory” use of the buildings. According to the city’s main business and commercial boulevard. Clear Space Theatre has filed a lawsuit against lawsuit, “the Mayor and City Commissioners do not possess The opponents have said the back walls of the two Rehoboth Beach over its plans for new buildings. (Blade file photo) jurisdiction to decide what is or is not an accessory use.” proposed theater buildings would face a residential street That function is the responsibility of the Rehoboth Beach lined with houses and would create excessive noise and Board of Adjustment, the lawsuit says. parking problems among other adverse effects. Wesley “The Mayor and City Commissioner’s decision erroneously conflates the Paulson, the Clear Space Theatre executive director, has said steps have been taken to Applications’ site plans, which were before the Planning Commission for approval, minimize noise and parking related issues and that the plans for the two theaters were with the Applications’ building plans, which were not,” the lawsuit says. It calls on the in full compliance with zoning and building codes. court to reverse the mayor and city commissioners’ decision to overturn the Planning “We have worked patiently and respectfully through an arduous process for the past Commission’s approval of the building project. several years to obtain permits to build two new buildings on Rehoboth Avenue,” Clear Rehoboth City Manager Sharon Lynn, who often acts as the city’s official spokesperson, Space says in a statement announcing the filing of the lawsuit. “Our permits were twice declined to comment on the lawsuit other than to say the city usually does not comment approved by the town building inspector and the Planning Commission – and is broadly on pending legal matters, according to a report by the Cape Gazette, the local Rehoboth supported by residents and the local business community,” the statement says. area newspaper. “We were left with no choice but to file a petition with the courts,” Paulson said in the Under court rules, the mayor and commissioners must respond to the lawsuit within statement. “We are simply asking the city to follow the law and allow us to build a new 20 days after they are served legal papers informing them of the suit. theater at our property just down the street,” Paulson said. Gay D.C. attorney Harvey Shulman, who owns a home in Rehoboth and is one of the Clear Space Theatre is currently located on Baltimore Avenue near the boardwalk and leaders of the opponents of the theater’s building plan, expressed strong doubts about beach. The nonprofit theater company, which for many years has produced Broadway the merits of the lawsuit, which he said was “grasping at straws, and even the straws plays and musical performances that have attracted audiences from throughout the aren’t there.” state and the mid-Atlantic region, said it has outgrown its current building and was LOU CHIBBARO JR. hoping to move into its planned new buildings on Rehoboth Avenue.

Equality Va. leader to step down Equality Virginia Executive Director Vee Lamneck on Monday announced they will leave the organization at the end of the year. Lamneck joined Equality Virginia in 2013. They were the organization’s program director until they become Equality Virginia’s deputy director in 2016. Lamneck became Equality Virginia’s executive director in January 2020. Their tenure coincided with Democrats regaining control of the General Assembly, which paved the way for the inclusion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Virginia’s nondiscrimination law, a ban on so-called conversion therapy for minors in the state and other LGBTQ rights laws. “I’m so proud of all that we have accomplished together — from our very first Transgender Information and Empowerment Summit (TIES) to our most recent legislative victories,” said Lamneck in an email to Equality Virginia supporters. “After this incredible tenure, it is with deep gratitude and a full heart that I announce that I will be leaving EV at the end of December 2021.”

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Lamneck in the email said they “have decided to go back to my roots and pursue my life-long dream of serving others through therapy, and I am so excited for this next chapter in my personal life and professional career.” “As joyful as I feel about what is ahead, I will miss working daily with our amazing staff, committed board, and incredible community members, partner organizations, legislators, allies and volunteers from every corner of the state,” said Lamneck. “The respect and appreciation that I have for each of you is immense, and, because of you, I am confident that a bright dawn for all LGBTQ Virginians is on the horizon.” “Since I started with Equality Virginia, we have changed and grown in significant ways, and the organization will continue to do so with new leadership,” they added.” Lamneck said Equality Virginia’s board of directors “in the coming weeks” will release more information about the process to choose their successor. FROM STAFF REPORTS

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D.C. gay bar patrons welcome proof of vaccination Eight of city’s 12 LGBTQ bars require vax or proof of negative COVID test By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

The overwhelming majority of patrons of the eight D.C. gay bars that announced earlier this month that patrons must show proof that they have been vaccinated for COVID-19 as a condition for being admitted have expressed support for the vaccination policy, according to employees and patrons of the bars. The decision by the eight bars to require either proof of vaccination or proof that a potential customer has tested negative for the coronavirus within the previous three days came shortly after D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued an order reinstating the city’s requirement that face masks must be worn inside all businesses and other establishments open to the public, including bars and restaurants. The order took effect July 31. The mayor’s order applies to all vaccinated and unvaccinated people over the age of two. Nightlife sources have said the number of patrons appeared to have declined to some degree in early August at most of the city’s 12 LGBTQ bars, including the eight that adopted the vaccination requirement. But some associated with the bars, including David Perruzza, owner of Pitchers and lesbian sports bar A League of Her Own, which operate in the same building in Adams Morgan, said August is normally the slowest month of the year for bars and other nightlife businesses. Others familiar with the city’s nightlife establishments have said the newly established mask requirement — rather than vaccination requirements — appeared to initially discourage some people from going out to bars and restaurants. Those familiar with nightlife establishments said regular customers quickly returned to their favorite bars and restaurants after realizing that the mask requirement does not apply to people who are “actively” eating or drinking at an establishment. According to sources who spoke with the Washington Blade, business appeared to be booming at most of the D.C. queer bars this past weekend. In addition to Pitchers and A League of Her Own, the other LGBTQ bars that require proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test include the Logan Circle area bars Trade and Number Nine; the 17th Street, N.W. bar JR.’s located near Dupont Circle; and the U Street, N.W. area bars Nellie’s, Dirty Goose, and Uproar Lounge & Restaurant. “Hands down, if we had one person complain about it, we had 40 people applaud it,” John Guggenmos, co-owner of Trade and Number Nine told D.C. Eater.com. He was recounting the reaction to his bars’ vaccination requirement during the first week the requirement was put in place. “There were people that were like, ‘Oh my God, this is great, Let me text my friends a picture.’ Or Tweet it out. It’s about time. Everybody needs to step up,” Guggenmos told D.C. Eater. The remaining four LGBTQ bars that have not adopted the vaccination or negative test requirement include the Fireplace on P Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle; the Green Lantern near Thomas Circle; Larry’s Lounge on 18th Street, N.W. near Adams Morgan; and Windows or DIK Bar, which is located above the Dupont Italian Kitchen restaurant on 17th Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle.

JR.’s is among the city’s eight LGBTQ-identified bars that requires proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test to enter. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Also adopting a policy requiring proof of vaccination or a negative test result is the Crew Club, D.C.’s gym, sauna, and bathhouse for gay men, which reopened this past weekend at its 14th Street, N.W. location. The Crew Club had been closed since the city’s COVID-19 related restrictions were put in place over a year ago. It announced on its website that it will initially be open only from Fridays through Sundays until further notice, when it expects to return to a seven-day, 24-hour schedule. The eight D.C. LGBTQ bars that have adopted the vaccination or negative test requirement are among a total of about 25 bars in the city that have adopted such a policy. Nightlife observers say most of the 25 or so bars adopted the vaccination policy around the first week of August and few others have followed the lead of that initial group of bars that put the policy in place. One source familiar with the city’s bars and nightclubs, who spoke on condition of not being identified, said nightlife industry insiders don’t believe many more will adopt a vaccination or negative COVID test requirement on grounds that D.C.-area residents have one of the highest vaccination rates in the country and most patrons will likely have been vaccinated. Data recently released by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation in partnership with the Rockefeller Foundation in New York, based on a national survey, showed that 92 percent of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. had received at least one vaccination shot for COVID-19.

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Put Vaccines On Your Back-to-School List Vaccines are the best protection against vaccine-preventable diseases. All DC students must have their immunizations up-to-date before the next school year begins.

The COVID-19 vaccine is also available for eligible age groups.

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From surviving ‘Don’t Ask’ to Space Force: An epic journey for Gen. Lauderback Lesbian flag officer manages intel for newly minted service By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

You might not know it, but there’s a role for the U.S. Space Force in Afghanistan. It could well be one of the many topics Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance for Maj. Gen. LEAH LAUDERBACK Space Force, is briefed on is director of intelligence for each morning when she the Space Force. comes into her office at the Pentagon. Lauderback, speaking last week with the Blade, said that speaks to the role of the newly minted service as primarily a “space-enabling capability.” “You can’t do anything with your iPhone as an example, with your computer, with the GPS in your car without those spaceenabling capabilities,” Lauderback said. “And so that truly is our role in Afghanistan, to support the United States contingent that is there today, and that’s through our GPS capabilities or communications capabilities.” Lauderback assumed the role as head of the office overseeing intelligence for Space Force last year shortly after the previous administration created it. With a record of intelligence-gathering roles in her three decades of serving in the Air Force, the sister service to Space Force, Lauderback is a natural fit for the crucial position in the new service. Still technically serving in the Air Force, Lauderback said she intends to leave the role next summer for a Guardian (the term bestowed to service members in the Space Force), and was chosen for the current role because she was a senior intelligence officer at the U.S. Space Command. Lauderback, nonetheless, said she was eager to take on those duties for a new service because she found the work “fascinating.” “There is a lot of activity that is happening on orbit, and it’s not all good activity, right?” she said. “There are threats that present themselves almost on a daily basis. And so we were very busy, one, standing up to command at that time but then doing operational missions on a daily basis to compete with other near-peer competitors out there as well as to mitigate areas where we were in trouble from a threat perspective.” One example Lauderback identified as a recent achievement came last year when a Russian satellite got very close to a U.S. satellite, and Gen. John Raymond, now commanding officer of U.S. Space Force, was able to push out into the media that the United States was concerned it was a Russian weapons system. The incident, Lauderback said, demonstrated U.S. capability to “call out the bad behavior and unprofessional behavior we thought of Russia.” For an openly gay woman like Lauderback, the role as head of intelligence for a U.S. service holds special significance. Such a position would have been out of reach for an openly gay person in years past, when more LGBTQ people were closeted and the pervasive view was employing them in intelligence roles would be a national security threat if they were blackmailed. Lauderback, who served when the military asked applicants whether or not they were homosexual and barred those who responded “yes,” recognizes the importance of an openly gay woman now heading up an entire office of intelligence for a U.S. military service. “It’s really very significant that the fact that I can be out means that nobody can hold this over my head and I can serve openly and be the best intelligence officer that I could possibly be,” she said. But it took a while to get there. Lauderback graduated from college in 1993, when “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” became the law of the land, and has had assignments in the military since that

time as she continued to pursue advanced degrees. Under that law, Lauderback had to keep quiet about being a lesbian or risk being discharged. “Certainly, when I first came out — and I was really enjoying my job, and I wanted to make the Air Force a career — but every day it was a concern, and absolutely made me untruthful at times, which is so embarrassing to say and humiliating at this point,” Lauderback said. “I had to lie at times. I was still hidden as a gay member in the service, but I trudged through that.” Lauderback said during the years under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” she became “less and less paranoid” and was able to find a friend at every base where she was stationed that she could trust with the truth about her sexual orientation. Those friends, she said, supported her on base and when she went on deployment. Things changed in September 2011. After former President Obama signed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal, the U.S. military certified it was ready to allow openly gay people in its ranks. The long ban was over and Lauderback was no longer forced to keep being gay a secret. “I, like many others I’m sure, wept a little bit,” she said. “We had the conversations with friends about how different this was going to be, and it was very different. Immediately I felt the weight off my shoulders, immediately I knew that I had recourse if I felt that I was going to be discriminated against at any point in time, I felt that I knew I could go and make a complaint about things.” Since that time, Lauderback married her spouse, Brenda Hall. The two have been happily married for years, Lauderback said. But nearly 10 years since “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was lifted, and shortly after transgender service members were allowed to begin service after President Biden reversed the previous administration’s ban, Lauderback said issues for LGBTQ service members remain and many gay service members are still afraid to come out. For that reason, Lauderback in March helped set up the LGBTQ Initiatives Team for the Air Force and Space Force, one of the barrier-analysis working groups ordered by senior leadership. Five months later, Lauderback said the task force continues to have conversations with leadership about policies, such as wording and terminology, that make people feel unwelcome in service. “This barrier-analysis working group is really kind of grassroots,” Lauderback said. “While there are a few of us that are of higher rank on the team, it is mostly made up of folks that are much younger, have very different experiences than we do. And so, they are uncovering what are those barriers, those unconscious biases that folks have … and identifying those areas that we can start knocking out.” One example of a change Lauderback said the team would “love to see” is the use of pronouns in some of the signature blocks in communications from service members. “It is well known and well practiced outside of the military in the public sphere, but within the government, I don’t think anybody’s actually brought it up to the senior leadership,” Lauderback said. “If you could use a pronoun, and especially if it’s for transgender members, it could be for women, it could be for somebody who doesn’t have a Westernized name, it was really nice to be able to say, you know, in my signature block ‘she, her, hers.’” Lauderback said her team is working through that change and thinks “we’ll be successful at some point.” Meanwhile, Lauderback continues to wear her main hat as head of intelligence for Space Force, for which she manages the delivery of intelligence to the secretary of the Air Force and the chief of space operations and ensures analysts are adhering to the framework for rules in gathering intelligence.

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“There’s just a lot of two steps forward, one step back type of potential, where you need to have facility space or you need to have — if it’s IT equipment and things like that,” she said. “And you have to hire people. So, we’re still making all of that happen in our directorate and across the entire enterprise, but I think we’re in a really good position, and certainly for the Space Force as it continues to mature, continues to grow.” Space is made up of, well, mostly empty space, as any scientist will tell you. However, that adage is becoming incrementally less true as entrepreneurs, such as Elon Musk, continue to launch private satellites into orbit in numbers that could surpass the nearly 2,000 belonging to the United States. Starlink, the SpaceX program that manages its satellites, has 300 satellites in orbit — and has signaled plans for an eventual goal to deploy a total of 30,000 or more. Lauderback, asked if that was a threat or should be welcomed, downplayed any concern of private companies surpassing U.S. government presence in space, saying the entrepreneurial endeavors would lower overall costs for launching satellites. “It’s very much something to be welcomed, and we see it as a positive,” Lauderback said. “And I know Gen. Raymond as the CSO has remarked on this a number of times. What happens when you have commercial entities like this one, they’re able to operate sometimes at a much faster pace than we can in the government, so we want to be able to take advantage of that and then secondly, they truly drive the price point down for us.” Launching astronauts into space remains an exciting event, including the prospect of sending the next human spaceflight to the Moon, and the first-ever landing on Mars. Lauderback, however, said she couldn’t comment directly because those projects are part of NASA’s domain. “I would say, from my perspective as an intelligence officer,” Lauderback said, “when there is more exploration in space, as there has been on every other domain — the air domain or land domain or the maritime domain — the Department of Defense needs to be prepared to protect and defend our capabilities … so as an intelligence officer that’s really part of my job is to watch what it is that other countries might be doing or what their desires and their intentions are.” While transporting human beings to other worlds continues to be an aspiration, questions have arisen recently about whether other worlds are sending living beings to Earth amid new interest in government reports on UFOs. U.S. intelligence over the summer revealed 140 sightings by American military pilots between 2004 and 2021 — and the Pentagon has no idea what they’re seeing. Lauderback, asked what she makes of the findings given her position as head of space intelligence, declined to comment directly on what she makes of the phenomena, citing an ongoing study in other military services, although she quibbled with the use of the term “UFOs” to describe them. “I would say it’s not UFOs, but it’s unidentified aerial phenomena,” Lauderback said. “So I key in on the term aerial in that case. I’ll leave it to the folks that are operating in the air domain and we’re working in the space domain, so I think that’s about all that I would be able to tell you.” Luke Schleusener, president of Out of National Security, an affinity group for LGBTQ staffers in national security, said the absence of any backlash to an out lesbian in Lauderback’s position “tells us how far much of the country has come in the decade since the repeal of DADT.” “She’ll bring her whole self to work,” Schleusener said. “At a time of ‘resurgent great power competition,’ having diverse teams and diverse leaders will make the Space Force more effective. It’s also a matter of our government and our military best serving the nation when our public servants and service members reflect those they’re sworn to serve, at all levels.”

64 members of Congress urge U.S. to evacuate LGBTQ Afghans More than 60 members of Congress on Tuesday urged the U.S. to evacuate LGBTQ Afghans from their country after the Taliban regained control of it. The letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) spearheaded notes LGBTQ+ Afghans face an “existential threat” under Taliban rule. Pappas and the 63 other members of Congress who signed the letter asked the State Department to allow LGBTQ+ Afghans to access the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program. The letter notes the State Department on Aug. 2 announced a “Priority 2 (P-2 designation” that grants “eligible Afghan nationals and their family members access to the USRAP for Afghans looking to flee Taliban rule but who aren’t eligible for a Special Immigrant Visa (SIV).” “The P-2 designation is made at the discretion of the Department of State and is typically used for ‘groups of special concern’ the department determines ‘as having access to the program by virtue of their circumstances’,” it reads. “We have a moral obligation to uphold our values and utilize every tool at our disposal to protect the LGBTQ+ Afghan community,” adds the letter. “In the spirit of upholding our values and leading by example, we urge you to expand the Department of State’s P-2 designation granting USRAP access for Afghan nationals to explicitly include LGBTQ+ Afghans.” “We further implore you to work with the Department of Defense to ensure that charter flights receive uninterrupted access to the (Kabul) airport, as charter flights will likely provide the best opportunity for priority refugees to escape,” stressed the members of Congress. The Taliban on Aug. 15 entered Kabul, the Afghan capital, and toppled the country’s government. The U.S. has subsequently evacuated more than 80,000 people from Kabul’s airport. President Biden on Tuesday reiterated the Aug. 31 deadline for U.S. military operations in Afghanistan to end. The Trump administration in 2020 brokered a deal with the Taliban that set the stage for the withdrawal. A Taliban judge last month said the group would execute gay people if it were to once again return to power in Afghanistan. Canada thus far is the only country that has

specifically said it would offer refuge to LGBTQ Afghans. “With the Taliban’s takeover of the country, LGBTQ+ Afghans face the prospect of violent death. Sharia law, cemented in Afghanistan’s constitution, prohibits all forms of same-sex activity, and makes same-sex activity punishable by death,” reads the letter to Blinken. “Just as it was for ISIS in Iraq, Sharia law is the Taliban’s guiding compass as it establishes its rule over Afghanistan’s government and society. During its campaign in Iraq and Syria, ISIS frequently executed LGBTQ+ individuals by stoning them to death, castrating and hanging them in public squares, and throwing them off buildings.” “Under Taliban rule, LGBTQ+ Afghans will suffer a similar fate,” it adds. The letter notes President Biden in February signed a memorandum that committed the U.S. to promote LGBTQ rights abroad. The lawmakers acknowledge “the situation in Afghanistan is fluid,” but stress Blinken has “the power to protect the lives of countless LGBTQ+ Afghans from the horrors they face living under U.S. Rep. CHRIS PAPPAS a regime that threatens their very existence.” (D-N.H.) is among lawmakers urging the government to The Human Rights Campaign, the Council evacuate LGBTQ Afghans. for Global Equality, the National Center for (Photo courtesy of Collin Gately) Transgender Equality, the Trevor Project, Lambda Legal, PFLAG, Athlete Ally and the National Equality Action Team support the lawmakers’ call for the U.S. to offer refuge to LGBTQ Afghans. “The Human Rights Campaign recognizes that those LGBTQ+ individuals fleeing Taliban rule deserve unique attention as they are particularly vulnerable and fear imminent violence and death following the rapid takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban, and this particular vulnerability requires expedited redress by the Department of State,” said HRC Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof in a press release that Pappas’ office sent exclusively to the Washington Blade. Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley stressed “time is running out and the lives of LGBTQI Afghans are at extreme risk.” “As a country, we can do more to evacuate the LGBTQI community and to provide LGBTQI-affirming support for their successful resettlement here in the United States,” he said in the press release. MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Oregon town bans Pride, BLM flags The Board of the Newberg Public Schools in a 4-3 vote last week banned display of any variant of the LGBTQ Pride flag and additionally will ban display of any flag associated with the Black Lives Matter movement. The board’s meeting, conducted over Zoom due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the explosion of cases of the Delta variant, will enact the ban on those flags, and any broadly “political” signs, clothing and other items, with the board’s three-member policy committee set to outline what constitutes “political,” Oregon Public Broadcasting reported. The board, with an all-white conservative majority comprised of five men and four women, has already provoked controversy when last month it moved to strike down local and statewide policies around inclusion and racism. Those actions brought swift condemnation from state lawmakers including members of the Oregon Legislature’s Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) caucus. In a statement released by BIPOC, lawmakers expressed their displeasure with the school board’s actions: “As

a Caucus, we remain committed to a more equitable education system that prioritizes student success and look forward to taking action during next year’s session to hold districts accountable. We also call on state and community leaders to denounce the school board’s actions. It is not ‘partisan’ to reject the type of hatred and bigotry Director Shannon and Chairman Brown [ NPS Board members] are promoting. The goal of providing a quality education for all students should be nonpartisan, including addressing systemic barriers.” Local community members who are opposed to the ban came up with a creative idea this week, according to KGW8 NBC TV news in Portland, which reported: “Following last week’s Newberg School Board vote to ban Pride and Black Lives Matter flags in schools, neighbors have constructed a large Progress Pride flag within view of the high school.” “We wanted maximum visibility,” Erin McCarthy said. “The result is pretty amazing, we love it.” Erin and her husband Jaybill own a hillside farm in Newberg about a mile and a half from Newberg High

School. A clearing through the trees on their hill reveals the 17’ by 30’ painted plywood Pride Flag within view of the high school football field. Staff members have also raised concerns over the board’s actions. According to Oregon Public Broadcasting, 16 of the school district’s counselors signed a letter asking that the Board not approve the initiative to remove the flags. BRODY LEVESQUE

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Nicaragua seeks to close country’s oldest LGBTQ group members who the State Department says are The government of Nicaragua has sought to “believed to be responsible for, or complicit shut down the country’s oldest LGBTQ rights in, undermining democracy, including those group. with responsibility for, or complicity in, human Confidencial, an online newspaper that is rights abuses such as suppression of peaceful critical of the government, reported the Interior protests.” Ministry has asked the National Assembly to “For the past three months, President Daniel “annul the legal non-profit status” of Fundación Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Xochiquetzal and 14 other non-governmental Murillo, have intimidated anyone opposed organizations. Assemblyman Filiberto Rodriguez to their efforts to entrench their power in on Aug. 18 introduced a bill that would dissolve Nicaragua, including through the arrest of the 15 NGOs for “holding activities outside the dozens of political candidates, journalists, law and acting expressly against the law.” student and business leaders, NGO workers, Paul Canning, a London-based writer and and human rights advocates, and through the activist, in a tweet notes Fundación Xochiquetzal disqualification of any candidate seeking to run formed in 1990 and has worked to fight HIV/ against them in the Nov. 7 elections,” said the AIDS in Nicaragua. Canning also said the group State Department in an Aug. 20 press release has been offering COVID-19 tests to LGBTQ that announced sanctions against 19 election people who live in Managua, the country’s officials and members of the ruling Sandinista capital. National Liberation Front party. The Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice is A billboard in Managua, Nicaragua, on Feb. 27, 2018, promotes Nicaraguan President DANIEL ORTEGA and his wife, Vice President ROSARIO MURILLO. A Nicaraguan LGBTQ activist who now lives among the groups that have funded Fundación (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers) in Costa Rica told the Washington Blade on Xochiquetzal. Tuesday described the government’s decision The government of President Daniel Ortega to shut down Fundación Xochiquetzal and other NGOs as “shameful.” and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, in recent months have targeted opposition “It doesn’t want organized groups and above all feminist and LGBTIQ+ groups that leaders and other groups — journalists and human rights activists — and NGOs ahead of have been in long-term struggles,” said the activist. national elections that are scheduled to take place on Nov. 7. The Blade has decided not to publish the activist’s name in order to protect their identity. Confidencial reported the government this month has sought to close 45 NGOs. MICHAEL K. LAVERS The U.S. since July has sanctioned more than 100 officials and their immediate family

Israel lifts ban on MSM blood donors Israel last week announced it will allow men who have sex with men to donate blood without restrictions. The Associated Press reported Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who is gay, made the announcement. “Today we removed the degrading and irrelevant questions in the blood donation questionnaire,” wrote Horowitz in his Facebook post. “Every blood donor who comes

with the goal of saving a life will receive equal treatment, no matter what his gender or sexual orientation (is), whether he is LGBT or straight.” The U.S. Food and Drug Administration currently allows MSM to donate blood if they have not had sex with another man for three months. The FDA deferral period for MSM before April 2020 was a year. MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Report: Brothers returned to Chechnya have been tortured The lawyer who represents two brothers from Chechnya who Russia returned to their homeland from which they had fled says they have been tortured. The Russian LGBT Network in a press release it sent to the Blade said Alexander Nemov on Thursday met with Salekh Magamadov and Ismail Isaev in the jail in Grozny, the Chechen capital, where they are currently incarcerated. “Previously the lawyer was being denied access to the facility under the pretense that the brothers had fallen ill with COVID-19 despite the fact that they were being held in solitary cells,” said the Russian LGBT Network. “The employees of the detention facility did not provide Mr. Nemov with any justification or legal basis for such nonadmission.” The Russian LGBT Network in its press release said Nemov “managed to talk to the detainees and they shared what had been happening to them, in other words — how they had been subjected to violence — and gave insight into possible reasons for the non-admission.” Magamadov and Isaev said they were scheduled to appear in court on July 22. “They were being brought there in the enclosed back compartment of a trucklike vehicle with no ventilation,” said the Russian LGBT Network. “Due to the heat Magamadov and Isaev felt sick, however, in response to their pleas to open the windows the employees of the detention facility escorting them started laughing and insulting the brothers because of their sexual orientation. Ismail then asked one of them to stop and that resulted in violent actions on the part of the escorting personnel.” The Russian LGBT Network notes the brothers’ court appearance “was postponed

with no explanation, although the defendants were brought to the court building and the lawyers were awaiting inside in the courtroom.” “Magamadov and Isaev were never let out of the car and simply driven back to the detention facility,” says the Russian LGBT Network. The Russian LGBT Network says Isaev was “put into a room with no cameras and rudely told how wrong he was, that he had no right to talk back to people who had authority over him” once he and his brother returned to the jail. “After an hour of ‘conversations’ one of those who had been escorting us came into the room and started beating me — fists bumping into my face and body, and then, later, he tried to strangle me,” said Isaev in the Russian LGBT Network press release. “The deputy head of the detention facility who had been present during the entire ordeal only stopped him from strangling me — he dragged him away from me and I was brought back to my cell.” The Russian LGBT Network says jail personnel earlier this month beat both brothers after they refused to shave their heads. Magamadov claims jail personnel beat him on Aug. 11 after he refused to say “he cut himself because of a nervous breakdown, not because of violence he had experienced” when he refused to shave his head. “They made me spread my legs as wide as possible and then were beating me for a long time,” Magamadov told the Russian LGBT Network. “I could not take it and told them that I would sign anything they wanted. After that they put me back in my cell.” MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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This open letter was signed by: THOMAS BLOMQVIST, minister for Nordic Cooperation and Equality, Finland; ANNIKA HAMBRUDD, minister of Education and Culture, Åland; ABID RAJA, minister of Culture and Equality, Norway; KATRÍN JAKOBSDÓTTIR, prime minister, Iceland; MÄRTA STENEVI, minister for Gender Equality and Housing, Sweden; NAAJA H. NATHANIELSEN, minister for Housing, Infrastructure, Minerals and Gender Equality, Greenland; and PETER HUMMELGAARD, minister for Equal Opportunities, Denmark.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

We call on governments to stand up for LGBTI human rights

Afghanistan brings out worst in CNN’s Tapper

WorldPride 2021 has kicked off and we – the ministers for equality from the Nordic countries – are there to show our support for equal rights. We will continue working to improve our legislation and counteract hate, ignorance, and prejudice so that LGBTI persons can live free, open, and good lives in the Nordic Region. We want it to be completely clear: For as long as there is resistance to LGBTI equality in our region and around the world, we will unapologetically stand up for the full and equal enjoyment of LGBTI persons’ human rights. We represent seven small nations – among the most progressive in the world when it comes to equality. Our countries stand out in international comparisons thanks to measures for LGBTI people to start a family and for our non-discrimination efforts. But whoever flies the flag high must also be open to scrutiny. We are committed to collaborating with Nordic LGBTI organizations to work on and speak openly about our shortcomings. To this end: Finland will be training social and health care professionals to give full consideration to LGBTI children and teenagers and improve knowledge on their specific needs. In Greenland, the government is working on interactive tools for young people in school to improve equality and raise awareness of LGBTI rights. The government of Åland has, together with the organization Regnbågsfyren, developed an LGBTI certification system for workplaces and institutions, with the aim of making them more inclusive and free from bias and discrimination. Denmark is improving its legislation to explicitly outlaw discrimination, hate speech and hate crime based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. In Iceland, individuals older than 15 and children with parental consent now have the right to change their gender registration and register as gender neutral. Unnecessary medical interventions on minors born with atypical sex characteristics are prohibited until the child themselves can give informed consent. Sweden is working to further modernize its family law to better reflect different family constellations and to make the law more inclusive and gender neutral. In Norway, the government is taking legislative steps to protect against conversion therapy, a discredited practice often referred to as actions to make a person change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity. Despite this progress, the Nordic countries still have work to do. We know that young LGBTI people face harassment and discrimination at school, online and within their own families. A Nordic study shows that LGBTI pupils, to a greater degree than their peers, lack a supportive school environment, which can then lead to bullying and higher absence, school fatigue, and insecurity. We share a common obligation to make sure that health, education and care professionals are trained on LGBTI issues. Authorities need to help ensure that young LGBTI people feel free being out at school and that elderly LGBTI people are not forced back into the closet in old age. We still do not know enough about the extent of multiple discrimination in the Nordic Region. Consequently, we want to uncover how inequality and discrimination of LGBTI people vary and are compounded by age, disability, ethnicity, indigenous status, religion or belief, urban/rural location or socioeconomic status. The Nordic countries have recently made LGBTI policy part of the official regional governmental co-operation. For us, leaving no one behind is one of the keys to a prosperous and cohesive society. In the new strategy of the Nordic Council of Ministers, we have endorsed three goals: We will work to promote greater freedom and openness for LGBTI people; promote a better quality of life and living conditions and ensure healthcare is accessible equally; and strengthen networks and civil society in the LGBTI area. Against the backdrop of WorldPride 2021, we reaffirm our commitment to further action on these goals. We call upon other governments to speak up for equality, for the full and equal enjoyment of human rights and to denounce all forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression and sex characteristics. Our support for civil society and our shared political commitment to give everyone the means to fully enjoy all their human rights come at a critical time and will change the world for the better.

How to report on what is happening in Afghanistan is difficult and no reporter has all the facts. It is easy to attack the president and the pictures from there are truly heart wrenching. You have to feel for the Afghan people and for those Americans and Afghans who supported us over 20 years as they face chaos trying to get out of the country. But piling on in the attacks against President Biden without all the facts isn’t helping anyone. It’s only good for the media that need to fill hours of airtime and pages of newsprint. I recently switched on CNN to watch the president gave a live speech on Afghanistan. Unfortunately, it was during Jake Tapper’s show. Tapper’s verbal and visceral reaction appeared to be channeling Fox News’s role of attacking the president without any real facts. Tapper came across as angry rather than fairly reporting what we were hearing. He brought on and encouraged panelists who agreed with his attacks on Biden and seemed actually upset giving short shrift to Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.), a Marine veteran who served in Afghanistan, when he supported the president. I recently wrote suggesting all cable news channels should be relabeled entertainment rather than news and Tapper helped make my point. It is not hard to rile up an audience to try to bump up ratings, Fox News personalities like Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity do it all the time. At one time I gave CNN and MSNBC the benefit of the doubt about their reporting but Tapper is proving my willingness to give them the benefit wrong. He appears to be just another egotist enjoying his ability to pontificate for hours at a time with or without enough facts to back up what he is saying. Tapper recently used his CNN fame appearing on many shows promoting his new book “The Devil May Dance” a fiction thriller. I am told he writes good fiction, which watching him on CNN makes sense. He has received awards for his journalism in the past but today his goal seems to be winning the daytime Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment News Program. Real journalism seems to be in his rear-view mirror. Two hours a day is a lot of time to fill up, which is the length of his ‘State of the Union’ show. Clearly it pays much better than real journalism as he makes a salary of $4 million a year. We must accept there are so many questions to ask about Afghanistan, our 20 years there, and now our departure. Was it worth it and what did we accomplish? Should we have been there in the first place? What do we owe the Afghan people? A recent meme I saw had George W. Bush laughing and saying; “I enjoy watching everyone blame Trump and Biden for Afghanistan and glad they forgot I started this war.” When we left Vietnam there were all kinds of questions, some never answered. Did we see a peace dividend that people claimed we would and will we see one today when we stop pouring all the money into this war? Did we actually know there were 300,000 Afghan troops and that they would they lay down their arms and the president flee the country in 11 days? A good friend who spent seven years working in Afghanistan with the Afghan people on agriculture issues in the provinces of Kandahar, Helmand, Uruzgan, and Zabul, said it well: “I worked shoulder to shoulder with people from 42 other countries to improve a place whose previous leadership promoted regressive social policies and harbored one of the greatest single enemies of the American people in the past century. What we need to do now is to say how grateful we are to the women and men who stepped into harms’ way … and ventured to a strange land with the ambition of limiting bloodshed and doing some good for a country in need. We live in a world where threats loom and that is scary but we are a people capable of combating those threats, of protecting our values, and even of calling it a day when it does not feel good to do so and when our outcomes have been imperfect. Say thanks to those near you who have served and be proud of your country for its attempts as well as its outcomes.”

Nordic equality ministers speak out during WorldPride

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Anchor ignores facts in tirades against Biden

KATHI WOLFE

a writer and a poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade.

HRC must conduct fair investigation of its president

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David accused of playing role in Cuomo cover up I’ve been digesting news reports of Andrew Cuomo, sexual harassment, and the reverberations in the LGBTQ community. Sexual harassment is despicable. No matter what form it takes. Charlotte Bennett, a Cuomo accuser, told investigators that Cuomo had asked her if she was monogamous. Cuomo has denied all allegations of sexual harassment. If you’re queer, either you or one of your friends, have likely been sexually harassed. Maybe you’ve been sexually assaulted. Perhaps, you have a friend who’s afraid to come out because their boss makes anti-queer “jokes.” In the 1990s, I was ridiculed and reprimanded at a work staff meeting for talking about the “gay sex life” of my (then) partner and myself. (The only thing I’d mentioned about my girlfriend and myself was that we both liked pizza with no anchovies.) Unfortunately, despite #MeToo and marriage equality, things haven’t changed that much regarding sexual harassment. In 2017, NPR, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health conducted a poll of LGBTQ people. More than half of those surveyed, NPR reported, said that “they or an LGBTQ friend or family member have been sexually harassed.” Given the queer community’s experience with, and struggle against, sexual harassment, the allegations that, as the Blade reported, Human Rights Campaign President Alphonso David potentially played a role in the coverup of Cuomo’s behavior, are profoundly disturbing. David, who before taking the helm at HRC in 2019, was counselor to Cuomo, denies that he’s done anything wrong. David is HRC’s first Black president in the organization’s 40-year history. He’s worked to make HRC more diverse – more welcoming and inclusive for people of color and transgender people. He was instrumental in writing and getting marriage equality legislation passed in New York state. David may be innocent of any wrongdoing. But, the allegations of David’s potential complicity in Cuomo’s effort to discredit his accusers are serious. He is named, as the Blade reports, nearly a dozen times in New York Attorney General Letitia James’s report. The report found that Cuomo had sexually harassed at least 11 women employees. I’m not a lawyer. But James’s report doesn’t appear to be a hatchet job. The report seems to be well documented. In its aftermath, Cuomo would likely have been impeached if he hadn’t resigned. You’d think that HRC would have acted immediately — that it would have taken steps to investigate whether the allegations against David are true. After all, some HRC staff members have called for David’s resignation. Some of its donors, including Michigan’s attorney general, have called for David to step down. Instead, HRC issued a statement supporting David. Though the timing was coincidental, the group renewed David’s contract for five more years. After intense pressure, HRC, as the Blade reported, hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to conduct a 30-day investigation of the allegations against David. This would be welcome, but the law firm has worked extensively with HRC. It says that it has had “a long standing relationship” with HRC. Legally, this may not be a conflict of interest, but that doesn’t make it seem any less fishy. You can’t help but wonder: how can a law firm that has a relationship with HRC conduct a fair, independent investigation of the allegations against David? Such an investigation’s findings would carry little weight in our perception of David and HRC. If the allegations against David were found to be untrue, what meaning would this finding have? If HRC sincerely wants to conduct an independent investigation, the investigation shouldn’t be time-limited to 30 days. For due diligence to be done, no time limit should be set on the inquiry. Lastly, David should be placed on unpaid, administrative leave while the investigation is taking place. I hope David will be found to be innocent of wrongdoing. But, to maintain its credibility, HRC must conduct a fair, transparent, independent investigation.

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‘Firebird’ is an instantly classic LGBTQ love story

A moving ﬁlm set in repressive Soviet-occupied Estonia By ROB WATSON

A common denominator for many LGBTQ people throughout the world — in differing cultures and under divergent political systems — has been the oppression of hiding our secret love. To quote “Beauty and the Beast,” “it is a tale as old as time.” It is a tale we have seen on screen before. It is a tale some of us have lived, and for others, it is a life they are currently living beneath. One such true story made its debut on the screens of Outfest LA last weekend. And while its theme may be familiar, the raw passion, the glorious romance and its layered nuances are unique. The film is called “Firebird.” Directed and co-scripted by Peeter Rebane it is based on the memoir by Sergey Fetisov. In my conversation on Rated LGBT Radio with Peeter and his co-writer, and star of the film, Tom Prior, Rebane said the film has been described as a “Call Me By Your Name” set not against a sweet pastoral Tuscany backdrop, but against a repressive Soviet-occupied Estonia Cold War one.” In the film, Sergey (Tom Prior), is a young private about to exit his time in the Soviet Air Force. His closest friend is the secretary to the base commander Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya). Sergey and Luisa’s quasi romantic friendship is redirected when an incredibly dynamic maverick fighter pilot arrives on the base, and both Sergey and Luisa are overwhelmed by his magnetism. That fighter pilot is Roman, played by Oleg Zagorodnii. Zagorodnii is a revelation. His performance is intense, sensitive and deep. He literally beat out 2,400 other actors for the role. And as impeccable as his English is in the film, he only speaks Russian in real life. The performances by all three of the lead actors are nuanced, beautiful, and completely authentic. They produce a magnificent chemistry that not only gives the audience full understanding of the love they exude for each other, but also a cathartic desire to be one of them. The true lovers of the piece are Roman and Sergey. Through a brilliant weaving of discussions about photography and theater, the passion between the two builds until they share an impromptu and spontaneous kiss. As the unspoken feelings between them become evident, the most important relationship in the film emerges. The oppressions of the KGB and the society they

TOM PRIOR as Sergey with OLEG ZAGORODNII as Roman in ‘Firebird.’

live in creates a “virtual character” that stands up as a nemesis against the love the men have discovered and want to nurture. While that oppression is brilliantly portrayed in a three-dimensional way by Margus Prangel as the intrusive Major Zverev, the true villain is ‘Fear’ itself. Prior described that element of the film, “Fear was its own character in the film. You see it in small moments: the characters walk past a corridor at one point and see people secretly recording their neighbors. You just see the image of a recording equipment and people listening. The Soviet Union wasn’t free, you’re kind of being policed and literally its in the walls, they have ears and you’ve got to be very mindful about how you speak. The level of fear becomes not something you can necessarily see but more something you can feel.” When the relationship is almost exposed, Roman finds himself driven to marry Luisa and denies Sergey. Over the next years, the relationships overlap, collide and ultimately lead to an ill-fated end. The magic of “Firebird” is not in its passionate and sadly beautiful plot, however. It is in the intense performance of its three principal actors. Each character projects their story, their conflict and their love in subtle but profound ways – the looks in their eyes, the touch of their hands and the intensity of their kisses. “Firebird” has the makings of a screen classic. Its stars have presence and their characters walk with you after the film is done. They are easily comparable to star-crossed lovers of “Casablanca,” “Brokeback Mountain,” “A Star is Born.” The fact that this is a true story, and that Sergey Fetisov lived it, was what impacted Rebane from the beginning. As they were working on the script, Rebane and Prior actually got to spend time with Sergey to flesh out their screenplay ideas. Rebane said, “It was very humbling, he was such a loving person, considering

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(Photo courtesy of director Peeter Rebane)

what he has gone through in life, to remain so positive and so compassionate and really so full of life and love towards other people. His main message to us was: please make this film about love, not politics, even though it has a highly important social impact mission.” Prior, who played Sergey in the film, was also deeply moved. “I saw that his love for Roman opened the world for him. He proceeded to live in hope, and stay true to himself, and that’s really what I took from meeting the real man and it was the honor to get to know him.” In the film, “Firebird” is a glorious ballet that Roman takes Sergey to before the passions erupt between them. It is a colorful, exciting, and fabulous display of a red enchanted bird with a magical feather. The bird represents rebirth and defeats a horrible nightmarish demon. Sadly, the real Sergey did not get to see his life brought to the screen by Rebane and Prior. He died before they had even finished the final script. They felt compelled to travel to Russia to mourn him: They went to his wake, his funeral and fully absorbed his essence. What has emerged is a film that transcends all of its elements. It is a film with a gorgeous and talented cast. It is a film with tension and intrigue of the deepest of love stories. It is a film of poetic subtexts and literary allusions. It is a film with an important glimpse into a unique window of history. Yet it is more than all of that. It is a film of rebirth, finding hope and truth as we emerge from life’s cruel ironies. Sergey Fetisov did not live to see his love story delivered to the hearts of a soon to be adoring public. But like the Firebird, Peeter Rebane and Tom Prior have brought his soul and his love back to life. It is flaming forth on the screens of LGBTQ film festivals and on its way to move the whole world. Bathe in it. Soak it up. Sergey would have wanted it that way.

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A scene from 2014’s United Night Out. This year’s event is Saturday.

Friday, August 27

(Blade file photo)

Friday Tea Time and social hour for Older LGBTQ+ adults will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. Feel free to bring your beverage of choice. For the Zoom link or more information, contact Justin (justin@thedccenter.org). “Trans Support Group‘’ will be hosted on Zoom at 7 p.m. This support group is intended to provide emotionally and physically safe space for transgender people and those who may be questioning their gender identity/expression to join in community and learn from one another. For more information, contact supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Saturday, August 28 “Volunteer with Food and Friends” will be at 9 a.m. at Food and Friends Inc. Food and Friends prepares and delivers meals and groceries to people living with HIV, cancer, and other life challenging illnesses. Five volunteers are needed. The organization is located at 219 Riggs Rd., N.E. If you need a ride from the Fort Totten Metro, call the Food and Friends shuttle at: 202-669-6437. SMYAL’s Back to School Glow Party will be at 1 p.m. at 410 7th St., S.E. At this event, SMYAL will offer haircuts, makeup tutorials, free school supplies, free chest binders, safe sex supplies, and mobile library checkout with queer books. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

Sunday, August 29 Dope Black Girls Brunch CBC Edition will be at 11:30 a.m. at the Hamilton Restaurant. This event is a funfilled brunch and awards reception that celebrates the accomplishments of Black women in politics, activism, media and other rising stars who are making a difference not only in their community, but around the world. For more information about tickets and giveaways at the event, please visit Eventbrite. The Cool Down will be hosted at Femme Fatale DC at 10 a.m. The event features a relaxing yoga experience guided by founder Shakeelah Sutton, exploring movement and stillness with a gentle vinyasa flow followed by meditative Yin yoga postures. It’ll conclude with a nourishing sound bath provided by sound healer, Jessica Gray. All experience levels are welcome. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

Monday, August 30 Rainbow Families will host a “Let’s Talk LGBTQ+ Adoption” event that’ll discuss adoption in the community. This evening will include information about adopting an older child through Foster Care, Infant Adoption: Costs and Timelines, and a Q&A portion.The event will be presented by Darren Paul-Vance, executive director of Rainbow Families, with special guests Susan Punnett, executive director of D.C. Family Youth Initiative, and Kathleen Stines, a social worker for the D.C. Dept. of Family Services. For more information and to RSVP, visit their website. The Center Aging Coffee Drop-in will be at 10 a.m. at the DC Center. LGBT Older Adults and friends are invited for friendly conversations and current issues that you might be dealing with. For more information visit Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter.

Tuesday, August 31 Future of Swinging will be hosted at the Hamilton Hotel at 7 p.m. This event is open for all races. Single, couples, throuples and LGBTQ individuals are welcome. There will also be different rooms for LGBTQ individuals and for straight men and women. Food and accommodation is free. This is a BYOB event. For more event details, visit Eventbrite. Ward 6 “You are not Alone” #LiveLongDC will be at 5 p.m. at the Westminster Presbyterian Church. The goal of this event is to bring greater awareness to the crisis of drug overdoses by providing information and support on drug user health to the general public. The program includes networking and tabling from 5-6:30 p.m. followed by storytelling and panel discussions. More event details are available on Eventbrite.

Wednesday, September 01 The DC Center will host a Job Club via Zoom at 6 p.m. The Job Club is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants’’ toward being “candidates.” For more information about Center Careers, email centercareers@ thedccenter.org or visit online at thedccenter.org/careers. NLGJA-DC Pre-Convention Happy Hour will be at 6 p.m. at Pitchers. Come socialize with fellow LGBTQ+ journalists and media professionals as the D.C. chapter of the Association of LGBTQ+ Journalists hosts its first inperson gathering of the year. Attendees will mix and mingle the week before NLGJA hosts its virtual national convention Sept. 9-12. More event details are available on Eventbrite.

Thursday, September 02 API Queer Support Group will be hosted via Zoom at 7 p.m. This event is a support group for the Asian and Pacific Islander Queer Community co-sponsored by APIQS (Asian Pacific Islander Queer Society DC) and AQUA (Asian Queers United for Action). Please email supportdesk@ thedccenter.org to access the Zoom link and receive the password to join the meeting. #OFTNThursdays will be at 6 p.m. at 1423 H St., N.W. Come enjoy great vibes, amazing music, good food, and meet new people within the community. Visit Eventbrite for more information.

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OUT & ABOUT

Team DC hosts United Night Out Team DC will host “United Night Out” on Saturday, Aug. 28 at 8 p.m. The game will be against the Philadelphia Union and will be hosted at Audi Field. There will be a pre-game party at 6:30 p.m. at the Heineken Hall inside the stadium. Happy hour pricing for beer will be $5/beer. Tickets are $30. For more information, please visit Team DC’s website.

Pride Center of Maryland adding to staff The Pride Center of Maryland is searching for a Community Engagement Ambassador and an executive assistant. Both are contractor positions and the Community Engagement Ambassador position will pay $18-$22 per hour and the executive assistant position will pay $24 per hour. The Pride Center of Maryland’s mission is to be a catalyst for uniting and empowering sexual and gender minorities in Maryland, and to advocate for a better quality of life for the entire community. To apply for either of these roles, submit your resume to Karen@pridecentermd.org. More information about the roles’ duties and responsibilities can be found at pridecentermd.org/ jobs/.

Barbara Holt Streeter hosts campaign kickoff Barbara Holt Streeter, Democratic candidate for Prince George’s County Council Member District 6 will officially announce her campaign on Tuesday, Aug. 31 at 5:30 p.m. at The Country Club at Woodmore. Streeter is a graduate of Frostburg State and Georgetown Universities and has become a public relations and protocol professional with more than 20 years of experience in community engagement and strategic partnerships.

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‘AIDS Diva,’ ‘Boulevard’ offer history lessons not to be missed Two outstanding LGBTQ documentaries arrive By JOHN PAUL KING

It’s a great time to be alive for queer documentary fans. It seems as if every month brings a whole new crop of titles, covering a broad array of subjects and offering new insights about the LGBTQ history you thought you knew – as well as introducing you to pieces of it that you’ve never even heard of. That’s a good thing. It reassures us that our queer cultural history, once in danger of being buried in the homophobic haze of a past that wanted to pretend we didn’t exist, is finally being recorded for posterity, and that the stories of our unsung heroes will be preserved. One such hero is the subject of “AIDS Diva: The Legend of Connie Norman,” which screened at Los Angeles’ venerable Outfest LGBTQ Film Festival last week. Directed by award-winning filmmaker Dante Alencastre (“Raising Zoey,” “Transvisible: The Bamby Salcedo Story”) it spotlights a remarkable figure who rose to prominence during the AIDS crisis, but who would seem right at home in today’s era of “woke” activism. Indeed, she’d be front and center, teaching all of us a few things about how to keep the movement advancing ever forward.

‘AIDS Diva’ CONNIE NORMAN

that the struggles of our past are connected in an unbroken line to those of the present. Just as importantly, as a filmic portrait of a one-of-a-kind icon, it introduces Norman, in all her defiantly eccentric charm and glory, to a world that will likely always need to hear what she had to say. Tackling what might (at first) seem a lighter topic is “Boulevard! A Hollywood Story,” which also screened at Outfest for its world premiere presentation. The latest documentary from Emmy winner Jeffrey Schwarz (“I Am Divine,” “Tab Hunter Confidential,” “The Fabulous Alan Carr”) takes viewers on a forensic deep-dive into the archives and filing cabinets of Hollywood history to unearth the little-known story of a musical that never was – an ambitious adaptation of “Sunset Boulevard” commissioned by none other than that classic film’s star Gloria Swanson herself. Swanson, of course, was a one-time silent cinema goddess whose electrifying performance as faded-and-psychotic movie star Norma Desmond in Billy Wilder’s dark, noir-ish satire of the Hollywood dream machine had given her a brief return to the limelight 20 years after her own silver screen heyday had ended. When further roles failed to materialize despite the movie’s success and the rave reviews it had earned her, she hit upon the notion of turning the film into a Broadway musical as a sure-fire vehicle for herself. In pursuit of this goal, she hired Dickson Hughes and Richard Stapley, two young songwriters and romantic partners, and the three of them began a threeway collaboration that soon began to have unsettling parallels with the story of “Sunset Boulevard” itself. The aging star developed an infatuation with the handsome Stapley, creating a tense dynamic into the creative threesome. It drove a wedge between the couple, and ultimately ensured that the project – a tentative proposition to begin with – would never reach fruition.

(Photo courtesy OutFest)

For those who don’t know – and unless you were in Los Angeles during the early ‘90s, chances are good that you don’t – Connie Norman was a masterful spokesperson for ACT UP/LA in the late ‘80s and early ’90s Los Angeles, a self-appointed “AIDS Diva” who described herself as “an ex-drag queen, ex-hooker, ex-IV drug user, ex-high-risk youth and current post-operative transsexual woman who is HIV positive.” Above all, however, she called herself simply “a human being seeking my humanity.” Standing proudly in her multiple, fluid, and evolving LGBTQ identities, she became a fixture in the campaign to raise awareness about the terrifying epidemic that was decimating the queer community – and the inadequate, often inhumane care afforded to its stigmatized victims. In addition to her work with ACT UP, she shared her soulful and salty rantings and intersectional politics through her local LGBTQ newspaper column and her pioneering LGBTQ cable television show – the first daily talk show about gay issues hosted by a gay rights activist on a commercial Los Angeles-area station. She charmed even the opposition with her piercing and compassionate voice, building bridges in gender issues and politics and evoking a humanitarian, neighborly, transcendent vision of life and love not just for her own queer tribe but for all. Herself diagnosed with AIDS, she continued to work tirelessly until her death from complications of the disease in 1996. A few months later, her ashes were scattered on the White House lawn as part of ACT UP’s “ashes action” in protest of government inaction against AIDS. In Alencastre’s brisk but engrossing documentary, Norman emerges through extensive archival footage as a larger-than-life personality that nevertheless exudes authenticity and the kind of “real talk” attitude that somehow acknowledges the value in everyone, whether on her side or against it. The footage, much of it little seen (if at all) in the quarter century since her death, is largely rough by today’s standards – after all, most of it is culled from local news and cable broadcasts of the time – but that technology gap does nothing to mute her passionate voice nor dim the brightness of her light. Indeed, there’s an immediacy about her in every appearance that transcends time and seems directed entirely at our contemporary world, urging modern viewers to once more wake up, take action, and fully engage with our collective lives and our world. From an activist standpoint, it makes Alencastre’s film a powerful journalistic call to action, a reminder 2 2 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • AUGUST 27, 2 0 2 1

DICKSON HUGHES and RICHARD STAPLEY ﬂank GLORIA SWANSON in ‘Boulevard: A Hollywood Story.’ (Photo courtesy The Film Collaborative)

If that were all there was to the story, “Boulevard!” would still be an entertaining nugget of show biz ephemera and worth watching every one of its 85 minutes. But there’s much more to be revealed in Schwarz’s detailed excavation of this footnote in Hollywood history; within the remarkable tale he unearths is woven a moving, bittersweet love story between two young men at a time when such things were hard enough already without a movie diva inserting herself into the mix. In the process, the seasoned documentarian delivers a powerful, observational document of gay love in mid-20th century America, bringing a cumulative emotional power to his film that is sure to bring tears to many viewers’ eyes before the final credits role. What’s particularly striking in Schwarz’ film is the kindness it bestows upon its subjects. Swanson, despite her role as a would-be femme fatale coming between two committed lovers, is never treated with anything but dignity and respect, and her two erstwhile collaborators – whose post-Swanson stories each took unexpected turns – come off as a pair of imperfect “everymen” who achieve a kind of grace even as success eludes their grasp. The result is a film that far transcends the trivial pursuit at its center to provide an empathetic contemplation of life, love, growing old, and rising above our failures. It’s Schwarz’s best movie to date, and that’s saying a lot. No release date has yet been announced for “AIDS Diva” or “Boulevard!” – but keep your eyes open, because each of them is a history lesson you won’t want to miss.

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A worthy sequel to ‘Maurice’ revisits classic love story

After going to war, couple reunite in intriguing ‘Alec’ By KATHI WOLFE

A sequel that’s nearly as good as the original! An intriguing queer love story! What more could you ask for as summer ends? Today, on and off the page, queers fall in love, have sex, couple up, marry – embrace polyamory – as frequently and openly as politicos trade insults. But, until recently, By William di Canzio you rarely found c.2021, Farrar, Straus & Giroux LGBTQ+ characters $27 | 336 pages in books. With few exceptions, when you encountered queer people in fiction, they were sick, dying, or in jail. It’s hard to overstate how revolutionary it was for queers when “Maurice” by the queer, British writer E.M. Forster was posthumously published in 1971. For many of us, it was the first time we read a love story in which queer lovers ended up alive – unrepentant and unpunished. Forster, who died at 91 in 1970, began writing “Maurice” in 1913 and finished it in 1914. Yet, he felt it couldn’t be published during his lifetime. Forster’s novels (especially, “A Passage to India” and “Howards End”) were critically acclaimed. Forster lectured in England and the United States. Listeners heard him on the radio as he read his acclaimed 1939 essay “What I Believe.” In this essay, Forster spoke of his belief in personal relations, endorsed the humanistic values of “tolerance, good temper and sympathy” and decried authoritarianism. His assertion in “What I Believe, that “if I had to choose between betraying my country and betraying my friend I hope I should have the guts to betray my country,” has been a credo for many. Yet, because being queer was illegal in the United Kingdom for most of his lifetime, Forster didn’t want to publish “Maurice” while he was alive. Homosexuality wasn’t decriminalized in the United Kingdom until 1967. Though he was out to some of his friends, Forster couldn’t be openly gay because of the homophobia of his time. “Maurice,” which Forster dedicated “To a Happier Year,” doesn’t just have LGBTQ characters. Its two gay male lovers, Cambridge-educated, upper-class Maurice, and Alec, a gamekeeper, end up happily. We may worry about what obstacles they’ll run into while living in such a repressive time. But we know that they’ve gone off together. “A happy ending was imperative,” Forster writes in a 1960 “Terminal Note” on “Maurice,” “I shouldn’t have bothered to write otherwise.” “I was determined that in fiction anyway,” he adds, “two men should fall in love and remain in it

‘Alec’

for the ever and ever that fiction allows, and in this sense Maurice and Alec still roam the greenwood.” Forster’s legacy has had a reemergence in this century. “On Beauty,” the 2005 novel by Zadie Smith is an homage to “Howards End.” Matthew Lopez’s play “The Inheritance,” which ran on Broadway, is, also, in part, an homage to “Howards End.” Many sequels, no matter how well-intended, aren’t good. This is even more true when classic novels like “Maurice” are involved. Yet, in “Alec,” distinguished, gay playwright di Canzio has pulled off an engrossing, lively, moving feat of the imagination. In “Maurice,” we see things from Maurice’s perspective. On a visit to his friend Clive, a country squire, he meets Alec, Clive’s game keeper. We know that Alec and Maurice, after both trying to blackmail each other, fall in love. But we learn little about Alec except that he loves Maurice. In “Alec,” we view things from Alec’s eyes. Alec, in di Canzio’s reimagining, is a three-dimensional character with feelings, ambitions and a back story. Born in Dorset, England in 1893 to working class parents, Alec loves to read. He knows, because of his class, that he won’t be able to go to college. But he soaks up as much literature as he can at the library. He enjoys reading about classic Greek myths and looking at pictures of art depicting the hunky, mythic heroes. Early on, Alec knows that he likes boys and men. Though there’s no way he can be openly gay, he’s fine with his sexuality. “It kept him out of trouble with girls,” di Canzio writes. Following his father in his line of work, doesn’t appeal to Alec. His dad is a butcher. He doesn’t want to become a servant to rich people if he’d have to be at their beck and call inside their house. Knowing that he has to do some type of work, Alec becomes a gamekeeper for Clive, a country squire. He and Maurice meet when Maurice visits Clive. As in “Maurice,” the lovers, after much angst and bungled blackmail attempts, go off together. Up to this point, di Canzio is following the plot of “Maurice” – even quoting some of the dialogue from the novel. In lesser hands, this might seem too plodding or too derivative. But di Canzio’s retelling the story, though a bit slow, is fresh. You want to keep reading. The lovers live together happily for a time. They can’t be openly gay. Yet, they find people like themselves and LGBTQ-friendly folk in salons, clubs, and other underground queer spaces. World War I shatters their happiness. Serving under horrific conditions in separate places, Alec and Maurice don’t know if they’ll survive or find each other after the war. “How many of our stories have been expunged – from history, from memory?” a friend asks the couple. You’ll keep turning the page to discover how Alec and Maurice’s story ends.

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Maddow reaches multi-year deal with MSBNC One of the most visible LGBTQ journalists and MSNBC’s most popular primetime anchor, Rachel Maddow, has negotiated a new multi-year contract with parent company NBCUniversal according to Business Insider magazine. Maddow’s decision to stay RACHEL MADDOW is staying at MSNBC after a contract extension. with the network also included (Screenshot via MSNBC) developing new projects. The 48-year-old lesbian anchor had been mulling leaving the coveted primetime nightly broadcast for several months when her contract expires in 2022, according to reports. The Daily Beast reported on Aug. 12, while the star host has occasionally entertained other offers in the past, she has in recent months increasingly expressed openness to exiting when her deal ends, citing a desire to spend more time with her family and the toll of hosting a nightly program since 2008. It was widely reported that Maddow was considering starting her own media ventures but had instead hired super-agent Ari Emanuel to negotiate a new deal after months of considering options from would-be suitors Business Insider reported. She will continue to host “The Rachel Maddow Show” weeknights — at least in the short term. The ﬁve-day-a-week show will end next year as Maddow shifts gears to a weekly format, according to a CNN report. FROM STAFF REPORTS

Star of popular YouTube show ‘The Horizon’ dies at 33 The family of Francis ‘Frankie’ Mossman, the native New Zealand star of the hit viral web series ‘The Horizon’ on YouTube acknowledged the actor’s death at age 33 on Aug. 14, but did not specify a cause. Mossman was best known for his recurring role as Stevie Hughes in the acclaimed LGBTQ-themed FRANCIS ‘FRANKIE’ MOSSMAN (Photo via Mossman Instagram) web series filmed in suburban Sydney, Australia, which was made in partnership with the AIDS Council of New South Wales. The show is now in its eighth season. The Horizon is the most successful online series made in Australia and the most watched LGBTQ web series in the world. Mossman, in what was his final Instagram post, shared a photo of himself as a child, alongside the caption: “Who would have known this boy would endure so much pain.” The actor’s hometown paper in Auckland, The New Zealand Herald and in his adopted hometown in Australia, Sydney’s Morning Herald have reported that Mossman took his own life but that has yet to be confirmed. Australia’s largest LGBTQ publication, the Star-Observer reported Mossman studied at the University of Auckland where he earned his bachelor’s in Drama and Film and his master’s in Film, Television and Media Studies. The Star-Observer went on to note that the actor was a “complex soul, yearning for success with every fibre of his being.” “Wanting to be loved and accepted with every breath. His love of animals said a lot about Francis as did his big heart when speaking to those in need.” Mossman moved from Auckland to Sydney in 2012 with dreams of making it as an actor. Back in New Zealand, he appeared in kids’ series “Amazing Extraordinary Friends” and the soap “Shortland Street.” FROM STAFF REPORTS

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There are about 20 ways to cross the Potomac River and all but one of them are bridges. White’s Ferry, connecting Route 15 in Loudoun County to Route 107 in Montgomery County, is the only ferry operating on the river. In existence since the late 1790s, the ferry is in lockdown because the two private parties involved in its operation can’t agree on new terms. It is a vital part of the Western County and Poolesville in particular. The impasse not only affects commuters but nature lovers, history lovers, hikers, bikers, and the economies of White’s Ferry connects Poolesville towns and areas the ferry connects. and Loudoun County, Va. While the number of cars that pass through the (Photo courtesy town of Poolesville, Md.) ferry each day — 600 to 800 — can seem small in terms of how much traffic daily moves along Route 15, it is a large traffic flow in a small town like Poolesville. A large number of small, local, often family-owned businesses make up the commercial fabric of Poolesville. Traffic from White’s Ferry is an important contributor to their success. Tom Kettler, president of the local Chamber of Commerce, noted that some businesses in Poolesville have seen a fall off of almost 20 percent in traffic since the ferry closed in December of last year. Local Realtors have seen the impact of the ferry’s closing as some buyers and sellers seem to be motivated in part by the added commute time. Economic activity that benefits both sides of the river around White’s Ferry is promoted by its operation with access to shopping, restaurants and outdoor venues. Leesburg is only 11 miles from Poolesville via the ferry. Sales are enhanced for Virginia and Maryland businesses, particularly small businesses, when the ferry is open. The ferry uniquely fits the historic and environmental characteristics of the lands it is connecting. It allows for commercial traffic, but effectively meters it so that the Agricultural Reserve in Montgomery County, an environmental and agricultural gem, can be maintained and preserved. It is also a “living history” example of life on the Potomac. One hundred ferries once crossed the river, connecting the C&O Canal to farms on both sides of the river and promoting trade up and down its course. Keeping this “living history” legacy alive adds to the richness of the C&O Canal’s presence and provides ongoing, tangible educational opportunities for students to understand and appreciate an early and highly important commerce channel in the history of the DMV. The opportunities to build on the unique assets of the ferry and the surrounding park land could be substantial for Poolesville and both Loudon and Montgomery Counties. White’s Ferry connects two areas with many similarities in terms of history and rural and agricultural spaces. Historic sites, including Civil War sites, the Underground Railroad, 18th and 19th century homes, barns, mills, and school sites dot the landscape. Biking, hiking and a wealth of other outdoor activities are widely available in the areas connected by the ferry. At the same time, the ferry is a direct and vital commuter connection between two of the most traveled counties in the region. Even though it is “low tech,” White’s Ferry makes it possible for the entire eastern section of Montgomery County to physically link up with Northern Virginia, boosting the high-tech businesses in both counties including biotech and cloud-based industries. A quarter million cars per year have used the ferry, promoting prosperity and reducing traffic along heavily congested Route 15. White’s Ferry is more than the sum of its parts. Leaders on both sides of the Potomac in Loudoun and Montgomery Counties have gotten together to mandate a study that will help sort out the complicated history of the ferry and develop ways to reopen it so as to avoid future disruptions. This is a unique situation – a public service for commuters, bikers, trucks and farmers to use like most roads that has a vital link in private hands. The study should be coming out in just a few short weeks and then it is time for action. The sooner the ferry gets running again, the better for the two counties it connects and the DMV.

LINK HOEWING

is a Western Montgomery County resident and chair of the Fair Access Committee for Western Montgomery County. Reach him at linkhoe@aol.com. 2 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • AUGUST 27, 2 0 2 1 • B US I NE S S

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