Washington Blade, Volume 54, Issue 07, February 17, 2023

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D.C. debates how to cope with crime as reform bill heads to Senate

House Democrats join GOP in voting to overturn measure

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Just over three weeks after the D.C. Council overturned Mayor Muriel Bowser’s veto of a controversial criminal code reform bill that the Council had passed unanimously last November, the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 7 voted 250 to 173 to overturn the D.C. bill.

In a development that surprised some D.C. political observers, including LGBTQ activists, 31 House Democrats were among those joining Republicans in voting to overturn the sweeping 450-page Revised Criminal Code Act of 2022.

On the same day that it voted to overturn the crime bill, the House voted 260 to 162, with 42 House Democrats voting yes, to pass a second disapproval resolution calling for overturning a bill approved by the D.C. Council to allow non-citizens to vote in local D.C. elections.

Both bills must now go to the U.S. Senate, where Democrats have a slim majority and where just a few Democratic senators voting to overturn either of the two bills, including the crime bill, could result in passage of the disapproval measure. It would then go to President Joe Biden, who would be faced with the choice of vetoing the measures or allowing one or both of the two D.C. bills to be overturned.

The president has said he opposes both of the two disapproval resolutions in the House, but he has not said whether he would veto the disapproval measures.

Most of those who have expressed concern over the criminal code reform bill, including Bowser, D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee, and the Offce of the U.S. Attorney for D.C., have said they support 95 percent of the bill’s provisions.

Supporters, including D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), point out that the voluminous bill was methodically developed over the past 16 years by the nonpartisan D.C. Criminal Code Reform Commission to modernize the city’s criminal code that has not been signifcantly changed since 1901.

Mendelson and D.C. Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), who headed the Council committee that drafted the legislation, strongly dispute claims that the bill would result in increased crime in the city or that it would hamper efforts by police to curtail crime.

The mayor has said her opposition centers around several of the bill’s provisions that, among other things, would eliminate most mandatory minimum prison sentences, reduce maximum sentences for crimes such as burglaries, carjackings, and robberies, and allow jury trials for all misdemeanor cases in which a prison sentence is possible.

Critics say allowing a jury trial for most misdemeanor cases would overwhelm the D.C. Superior Court that they say already has too few judges to handle its criminal case load. Under the city’s 1971 Home Rule Act approved by Congress, the U.S. president appoints all D.C. court judges, and the U.S. Senate must confrm the appointments.

Supporters of the criminal code reform measure point out that it is currently drafted so it does not take effect until 2025, which they say will give the court system time to adapt to the new criminal code. But opponents, including the mayor, say that would not prevent the problems that they say the bill as currently written will bring about when it takes effect.

“This bill does not make us safer,” said Bowser in announcing her decision to veto the bill.

“While no one believes that penalties alone will solve crime and violence right now, we must be very intentional about messages that we are sending to our community, including prosecutors and judges,” the mayor said in a statement. “People, we know, are tired of violence and right now our focus must be on victims and preventing more people from becoming victims,” she said.

Bowser added that the bill would weaken what she said was an already lenient sentence for illegal gun possession by reducing the maximum sentence for carrying a pistol without a license and being a convicted felon in possession of a gun.

She has expressed strong opposition to Congress stepping in to overturn the bill, saying that it should be left up to the city to make any changes needed to improve the bill. Bowser last week submitted to the Council legislation calling for changes in the bill, including removing provisions in the current bill that would lower maximum penalties and allow jury trials for most misdemeanor cases.

Among the most outspoken critics of the criminal code revision bill has been the D.C. Police Union, whose chairperson, Gregg Pemberton, said the legislation would result in “violent crime rates exploding more than they already have.”

Most local LGBTQ organizations have not taken an offcial position on the bill. Capital Stonewall Democrats, the city’s largest local LGBTQ political group, has yet to take a position on the bill itself and most likely will not do so at this time, according to Monika Nemeth, the group’s recently elected president.

Nemeth said threats by Congress to overturn this and other D.C. bills are of great concern to the organization, and it reconfrms Capital Stonewall Democrats’ strong support for D.C. statehood.

Adam Savit, president of Log Cabin Republicans of D.C., the local chapter of the national LGBTQ Republican organization Log Cabin Republicans, said the local chapter also has not taken an offcial position on the D.C. criminal code bill. But he said in an email to the Blade that “we generally sympathize with the sentiments of the D.C. GOP,” which has come out against the legislation on grounds that it will result in a higher rate of crime in the city.

“Decreased penalties mean a decreased deterrent, and it will absolutely lead to increased criminality and further undermine the ability of the police to keep order,” Savit said in expressing his own opinion. “The way to protect LGBTQ citizens is to set credible penalties for violent crime and enforce the law,” he said.

The DC Center for the LGBT Community, which oversees its longstanding LGBTQ Anti-Violence Project, did not respond to a request by the Blade for comment on the crime bill.

The D.C. Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance, however, has taken a position in strong support of the measure.

“We applaud the D.C. Council for enacting the Revised Criminal Code Act, an important modernization of our criminal laws that is the product of over 15 years of careful deliberation,” said GLAA President Tyrone Hanley in a statement to the Blade. Hanley said the statement was approved by the GLAA board.

“We have long known that mandatory minimums do not make communities safer, but exacerbate mass incarceration,” the GLAA statement says. “The larger symbol-

ic reductions in maximum sentences for certain crimes bring them in-line with actual practice [by judges], plus research demonstrates that the length of sentence is not an effective deterrent to most crime,” the GLAA statement continues.

“We should not give in to right-wing narratives that some wish to use to exert power over D.C. and return to ineffective and harmful approaches,” the statement concludes.

Longtime D.C. gay activist and former GLAA President Rick Rosendall has taken a similar position, saying in an email to the Blade that opposition to the bill is based on “alarmist talking points.” Rosendall pointed to the assertion by D.C. Council member Kenyan McDuffe (I-AtLarge) that some provisions in the bill actually raise penalties and create new categories of crimes that make it easier for prosecutors to prove.

Another longtime LGBTQ rights advocate and Democratic Party activist Peter Rosenstein has taken a differing view. He says he fully agrees with Bowser’s decision to veto the crime bill and said the Council should not have passed the separate bill to allow non-U.S. citizen D.C. residents the right to vote in local D.C. elections.

“Lowering the maximum possible penalties for burglaries, carjackings (now at their highest) and robberies, while residents are seeing a crime wave, is irresponsible and won’t make the city safer,” Rosenstein said in a Washington Blade commentary. “If Congress takes action on these bills, the Council must accept the full blame,” he said. “While Congress shouldn’t interfere with the D.C. government (I have long advocated for budget and legislative autonomy for the District) we don’t have it yet.”

D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) has strongly criticized the House for passing the disapproval resolutions calling for overturning the crime bill and the noncitizen voting rights bill. She said she is alarmed that Republican members of the House and Senate are once again attempting to intervene and usurp the will of the democratically elected D.C. local government.

Norton noted that since Congress passed the D.C. Home Rule Act of 1971, creating the city’s elected mayor and Council – with Congress retaining the ability to make the fnal decision on all laws passed by the D.C. government – Congress has only used its power to overturn a D.C. law on three occasions over the past 40 years.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 08

Mayor MURIEL BOWSER vetoed a controversial criminal code reform bill, setting off a citywide debate about how to cope with crime. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Kennedy Center Millennium

Stage | Washington DC | March 4, 2023 | 6pm

Featuring Rebekah Lau’ren, Spirit McIntyre and Like Water Curated by Be Steadwell

Powerful Black, queer musicians from the DMV share their take on love songs in this round-robin style show. In alignment with Roadwork’s 45-year long mission of nurturing coalition building, SISTERFIRE LOVE SONGS honors the DMV’s enduring Black arts activists who center love across movements and generations. In a world consumed with politics, what does it mean for Black queer artists to invite us to talk about love?

Roadwork is multiracial coalition of LGBTQ, social justice, and anti racist arts activists in Washington DC. From its inception in 1982, Roadwork’s Sisterfre Festival showcased an array of artists with an emphasis on women of color, performers like Sweet Honey in the Rock and other musical activists who tackled social justice issues both local and global. The Sisterfre Festival remains a cross generational celebration of resistance, coalition, and emancipatory imagination, creativity, and performance in the arts.

Comings & Goings Kopperud named SVP of gov’t affairs at Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: comingsandgoings@washblade.com

The Comings & Goings column also invites LGBTQ college students to share their successes with us. If you have been

JOEL T. KOPPERUD

elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success.

Congratulations to Joel T. Kopperud on his new position as Senior Vice President, Government Affairs, The Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers. Kopperud has been working with The Council since 2008. He advocates policies to members of Congress on issues impacting commercial insurance brokers, with special focus on issues related to employee benefts, tax, terrorism insurance, cyber security, broker licensing, and food insurance. He writes regular columns for Leaders Edge magazine, the industry’s award-winning trade publication.

Prior to that, Kopperud worked for Global USA, Inc., as an International Trade Associate; and for Powell Tate | Weber Shandwick, in D.C., as an account supervisor. He has also worked for The Financial Services Roundtable, as a government affairs manager.

Kopperud has volunteered for a number of political campaigns, including Michael Bennet for Colorado; Jon

Tester for Montana; Ed Perlmutter for Congress; and Paul Kanjorski for Congress. He is a member of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, D.C.; and serves on the Victory Fund, VCB Board.

Kopperud earned his bachelor’s degree in political science, American University, D.C.; and is a graduate of American University’s Lobbying Institute.

Congratulations also to Ted Leibovitz on his new position as Research Assistant, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, in D.C. Leibovitz has said his career goals are in in the areas of museum management and/ or curation.

Prior to this he served as a visitor services assistant at the Hirshhorn Museum, where he guided and informed visitors to the museum, answered their questions and helped keep artwork safe for future generations. He has also worked as a museum assistant at the Phillips Collection. He interned at the ‘O’ Street Museum, and at the Thomas Jefferson Library at Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va..

Leibovitz earned his bachelor’s degree in history from American University.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 06

Activists cautious over whether bill will impact crime targeting LGBTQ people

One of the three laws overturned by Congress was the Sexual Assault Reform Act of 1981, which called for repealing the city’s antiquated sodomy law that made it a crime for consenting same-sex adults and consenting heterosexual adult to engage in oral or anal sodomy. It took another 12 years for the Council to pass legislation repealing the D.C. sodomy law in 1993. At that time gay then-U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) played a lead role in persuading Congress not to overturn the sodomy repeal law once again.

But with states throughout the country now passing or considering anti-LGBTQ bills, including bills targeting transgender people and drag performances, the emboldened action by the U.S. House on Feb. 7 to overturn two bills passed by the D.C. Council raises the possibility that GOP lawmakers in Congress might attempt to impose anti-LGBTQ policies on the District.

Norton has pointed out that although Congress has so far overturned only three D.C. laws, it has also imposed restrictions on the city through its power to control the city’s budget and spending. Without needing approval by the Senate, the GOP-controlled House has in the past — and can at this time — add hostile provisions to the city’s annual budget bill.

In recent years, the House has used the budget process to ban D.C. funding for abortions for women in fnancial need and to block the city from allowing the sale of marijuana as part of D.C.’s legislation – which Congress

allowed the city to pass – decriminalizing the possession of marijuana.

Most LGBTQ activists contacted by the Blade said they haven’t had a chance to read the entire 450-page Revised Criminal Code Act, but from what they have learned about the bill from media reports leads them to believe it most likely would not impact LGBTQ people any more or less than the overall D.C. population.

Some activists, however, point out that transgender women of color have been targeted for crimes in the D.C. area, including murder, in greater numbers than others in the community. And the release by D.C. police in January of the city’s data on reported hate crimes in 2022 show that similar to the past 10 years or more, LGBTQ people were targeted for hate crimes in greater numbers than other categories of victims of hate crimes such as race, ethnicity, or religion.

“I’m not certain what contributes to the uptick in some types of calls that we’ve seen or some of the crimes that we’ve seen,” said D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee in response to a question from the Blade about what, if anything, police can do to address hate crimes targeting LGBTQ people.

“But our commitment is to investigate those cases thoroughly and hold people accountable when we identify people who are responsible for those types of crimes,” Contee said. “Our LGBT community is something special, not just to Washington, D.C. but to the Metropolitan Police Department,” he said. “They have a strong relationship with our Special Liaison Branch,” he noted, which oversees the department’s LGBT Liaison Unit.

“So, we’re going to continue to do the things we need to do to make sure that those calls are coming in and people are trusting us to report these crimes to us,” Contee told the Blade. “And again, we do everything we can to investigate those crimes.”

TED LEIBOVITZ

‘Our LGBT community is something special, not just to Washington, D.C. but to the Metropolitan Police Department,’ said D.C. Police Chief ROBERT CONTEE (Photo courtesy of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department)

Scarlet’s Bake Sale celebrates 50 years

The 50th anniversary Scarlet’s Bake Sale was held at The Crucible on Sunday, Feb. 12. Leather-clad participants bid on baked goods and bottles of liquor to raise money for HIPS.

MICHAEL KEY

Former NGLCC staffer joins Commerce Department

Jonathan Lovitz, former special adviser to and senior vice president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, has begun his new role as senior adviser and director of public affairs at the Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration.

In the new role, Lovitz will further economic development endeavors in regions across the U.S.

“I am now so deeply honored to be asked by President Joe Biden’s team to support the incredible leadership of [Commerce Department] Secretary Gina Raimondo and Assistant Secretary Alejandra Y. Castillo in making the American economy work for everyone by empowering entrepreneurs, innovators, and job creators from coast to coast,” Lovitz told the Washington Blade.

“I can’t wait to work with the EDA team and partners across the federal government, local communities, and the private sector to create good economic policy, provide transformational grants and training programs, and tell the stories of American ingenuity,” Lovitz said.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

LaBolt to become frst gay White House comms director

Ben LaBolt will become the frst openly gay White House communications director, succeeding Kate Bedingfeld, who is expected to leave at the end of February, advisers to President Joe Biden announced last week.

Bedingfeld is expected to work on Biden’s reelection campaign. LaBolt has worked for the president since the Obama administration, most recently leading communications around matters like the nomination and confrmation of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the American Rescue Plan, and the Infation Reduction Act.

The move comes shortly after Biden’s Chief of Staff Ron Klain and top economic adviser Brian Deese announced their departures from the White House.

LaBolt was previously senior national spokesperson for Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign and White House national press secretary in 2012.

Karine Jean-Pierre made history in May 2022 with her appointment as the frst Black and the frst openly LGBTQ White House press secretary.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Md. House committee holds hearing on transgender health care bill

Activists rallied in support of Trans Health Equity Act in Annapolis

By STAFF REPORTS

A Maryland House of Delegates committee on Tuesday held a hearing on a bill that would expand coverage of transgender-specifc health care in the state.

The House Government Operations Committee heard testimony on House Bill 283, or the Trans Health Equity Act. The measure would require the Maryland Medical Assistance Program “to provide gender-affrming treatment in a nondiscriminatory manner” and mandate” the gender-affrming treatment be assessed according to nondiscriminatory criteria that are consistent with current clinical standards.” The bill would also prohibit “the issuance of an adverse beneft determination related to gender-affrming treatment unless a certain experienced health care provider has reviewed and confrmed the appropriateness of the determination.”

The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on an identical bill, Senate Bill 460, on Feb. 28.

The House Judiciary Committee on Feb. 21 will hold a hearing on House Bill 426, or the Trans Respect, Agency and Dignity Act.

This measure would require the Maryland Division of Corrections “to report certain information regarding the gender identities of inmates and the housing status of transgender, nonbinary or intersex inmates.” HB 426 would also prohibit “an employee of a correctional facility from discriminating against inmates on the basis of certain protected classes” and require “the managing offcial of a correctional facility to develop a written nondiscrimination policy regarding inmates.”

An identical bill, Senate Bill 761, has been introduced in the state Senate.

The two bills are among FreeState Justice’s legislative priorities during this year’s legislative session.

The advocacy group also opposes House Bill 757, which would prevent trans athletes from school sports teams that do not correspond to their gender identity. The House Ways and Means Committee on Wednesday is scheduled to hold a hearing on the mea-

sure.

Meanwhile, state Sen. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) is among those who participated in a rally in support of Trans Health Equity Act. that took place on Lawyer’s Mall in front of the State Capitol in Annapolis on Tuesday.

Maryland state Sen. MARY WASHINGTON (D-Baltimore County) speaks at a press conference for the Trans Health Equity Act on Feb. 14, 2023. (Washington Blade photo by Linus Berggren)

JONATHAN LOVITZ (Photo courtesy of Lovitz)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

202.882.1648

EXCLUSIVE: Schiff on Senate run, bill protecting trans youth

‘GOP’s only path to power is by victimizing young people’

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com

U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) spoke with the Blade last week about his run for the Senate, the Republican Party’s crusade against trans Americans, and a new bill he introduced that would protect vulnerable youth in schools.

Necessitated by Republican legislators’ invasion of students’ privacy to enforce anti-trans and anti-choice laws, Schiff and Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-M.N.) introduced the Privacy in Education Regarding Individuals’ Own Data (PERIOD) Act.

Allies close to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have proposed tracking student athletes’ menstrual cycles, which Schiff characterized as “a not-at-all disguised effort to discriminate against trans students” that would be “incredibly invasive of students’ private medical data.”

“There may have been some of this data that was gathered in the past, but the particular focus on it right now, when the Republican party seems to be doing everything possible to make life diffcult and dangerous for people in the trans community, is all too telling,” Schiff told The Blade.

The PERIOD Act, he said, is going to be vital for protecting young people’s medical information and “prohibiting this effort to target trans students.”

The bill aligns with other measures Schiff has introduced recently.

For instance, last year’s Equal Access to Reproductive Care Act would update the federal tax code such that all Americans regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity would be able to claim deductions for assisted reproductive treatments and surrogacy arrangements. And the PrEP Assistance Program Act, also introduced last year, would make preexposure prophylactic regimens for the prevention of HIV infection more affordable and accessible for high-risk and underserved patients.

“It really requires a whole of government approach,” Schiff said.

“Congress needs to get rid of any statutory impediments to equal access to care, like the ones that exist in the tax code for LGBTQ families that want to have children. But also the Department of Justice has to enforce existing law and made sure people aren’t discriminated against. The Department of Health and Human Services needs to make sure that in the provision of care, people aren’t subject to discrimination. And [the agency needs] to work with hospitals and health clinics to make sure that they’re gathering the kind of data that’s needed to evaluate whether care is being provided on an equitable basis,” he said.

Asked to gauge the prospects of passing the PERIOD Act in the Republican controlled House, Schiff conceded “it’s going to be diffcult” in this Congress, but getting members to go on the record with their positions on the bill will be important.

lican Party,” Schiff said. And “Trump isn’t wrong when he said that he was responsible for [DeSantis’s] career” but “he was also responsible for DeSantis imitating the worst aspects of the Trump presidency, [including] in their common demonization of members of the LGBTQ community.”

“We see just how pernicious Trump’s infuence has been,” Schiff said. “So I think the danger to our rights or freedoms or democracy continues. And we’re going to be seeing more and more of it as the Republican primary gets underway.”

Running for Senate

Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a groundbreaking and venerated fgure in Democratic politics, particularly in California, endorsed Schiff’s candidacy for the Senate on the condition that Sen. Dianne Feinstein (Calif.) decides not to seek reelection next year.

Schiff told The Blade he was “thrilled” to receive the endorsement. “I don’t think there’s any person more well respected among the public, among Democrats in California, and among San Franciscans than Pelosi,” he said. “She’s an iconic fgure.”

Schiff added that he is “greatly honored” that in addition to Pelosi, his Senate bid was endorsed by more than 20 current and former House colleagues from the state of California.

Also important, he said, is highlighting the need for the measure so that “when Democrats regain control of the House in two years, we can get [this] legislation passed.”

“We just saw Donald Trump issuing a video from Mara-Lago essentially pandering to people’s bigotry, and the fact that this is a presidential campaign platform attacking among the most vulnerable of all Americans, a community that already experiences hate and violence and high rates of suicide is absolutely shameful.”

Targeting one of the country’s most vulnerable communities is evidence of the Republican party’s “descent into division, bigotry, and hate,” Schiff said.

“It shows how low the GOP has descended that they believe their only path to power is by victimizing young people. And so it shouldn’t be, I guess, surprising. But it feels a shock. It’s still a shock,” Schiff said, adding that he is eager for a return to the days in which the GOP had “some conservative ideology, or frankly, any ideology” beyond “just being a party of hate.”

“Donald Trump is still the dominant voice in the Repub-

“It’s refective of their belief that I’m capable of getting things done on behalf of the people of California, and better than than anyone else,” he said.

Schiff will have at least one California Democratic opponent in his Senate campaign. Rep. Katie Porter announced her candidacy last month, while Rep. Barbara Lee is also rumored to be considering running.

“We’re all rivals under the same fag,” Schiff told The Blade. “And so I think Californians will have a wealth of riches” among whom to choose.

“I’m campaigning to protect our democracy, to build an economy that works for everyone, and to save our planet,” Schiff said. “These, to me, are the three existential issues facing our state and our country. And in these consequential fghts over the last decade, I’ve been very proud to [have been] at the center.”

Schiff noted his years of service as one of the vice chairs of the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus, adding, “we’d be very proud to have the support of the community in this campaign.”

Trump judge could ban abortion pills nationwide

Anti-LGBTQ Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas is expected to soon rule on a consequential case that could outlaw the use of medication for abortions.

A decision in Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected by the end of this month.

More than half of all abortions in the U.S. are performed with medications, usually mifepristone in combination with misoprostol, up until the 10th week of pregnancy.

The plaintiffs — represented by the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom, which has been designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center — contend that the FDA overextended its authority by approving mifepri-

stone more than 20 years ago.

The lawsuit is “unprecedented,” the Biden administration has said. The American Civil Liberties Union agreed, writing that “in any rational universe” it would be “laughed out of court on multiple grounds.”

According to the ACLU, “Mifepristone was approved more than two decades ago and has been used by millions of people for early abortion care and to treat miscarriages. Study after study has confrmed its safety and effcacy, and its critical role in abortion and miscarriage care. The claims in this case have no basis in law and distort decades of scientifc evidence.”

At the same time, a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs would align with a series of controversial decisions by

Kacsmaryk since his appointment to the bench by former President Donald Trump in 2019.

Previously, Kacsmaryk worked as an attorney for the Christian conservative legal group First Liberty Institute, including on cases whose purpose was to “defend unborn human life.”

Kacsmaryk has faced criticism for past statements in which he said homosexuality is “disordered” and that transgender people are suffering a “delusion” or “mental disorder.”

The constitutional right to birth control was established 65 years ago by the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Griswold v. Connecticut.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Rep. ADAM SCHIFF (D-Calif.) is running for Senate. (Washington Blade fle photo by Michael key)

Howard Bragman, veteran publicist and LGBTQ activist, dies at 66

Instrumental in guiding those living in glass closets to come out

By KAREN OCAMB

Howard Bragman died Saturday, 13 days before his 67th birthday. With the media focused on the Super Bowl, the horrifc earthquake in Turkey, and UFOs in American airspace, Howard’s death has been mostly noted in the entertainment trades with little attention paid to the significant decades-long behind-the-scenes impact he had on his beloved LGBTQ movement.

Thank heavens for TMZ, with whom Howard sometimes worked closely to produce a respectful story about his PR clients, for explaining what happened.

“Howard was set to attend a wedding in Mexico with his partner, Mike Maimone, this month — but wanted to get checked out by his doctor before his travels for what he thought was a gum infection and mild fever,” TMZ reported. “Unfortunately, after testing, Bragman was diagnosed with the most aggressive form of leukemia a person can have — and it progressed ‘explosively.’ Howard was hospitalized on Feb. 2 and died less than two weeks after.”

I can’t imagine the panic at having something you need to get checked and fxed before going on a glorious trip suddenly turn into an inexplicable death sentence. My heart breaks for Howard, his partner and their families, friends and dogs. It also triggers my old PTSD about how we LGBTQ people had to face similar panic during the waves of AIDS crisis when death sentence test results happened almost every day until the miracle drug cocktail became available in 1996.

LGBTQ Spectrum Center. “This campus allows you to be yourself. It allows you to spread your wings in the way you want to spread your wings. I tell people, ‘Stay strong, even when it hurts.’ And, I promise, it hurts sometimes. But, there are places that will help you ease the pain sometimes. That’s what the Spectrum Center did. That’s what Michigan did.”

Bragman added: “I don’t care how liberal the school is. I don’t care how accepting and loving your parents are. I don’t care how ‘woke’ the times are. Coming out is this most personal of journeys, and it’s a challenging journey. It’s so important for students to know they are not alone.”

I met Howard in 1989 when I was just starting in “gay” journalism and he had just co-founded Bragman Nyman Cafarelli. He dressed well but he was funny, down-to-earth and unpretentious. He sincerely cared about the people he was advising — from the rich celebrities to AIDS organizations he served pro bono. He was also very good about reaching out to the gay press, which is how I got my frst introduction into the issue of the federal government’s ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military.

One of Howard’s frst pro bono clients was Naval Academy midshipman Joe Steffan who was forced to resign six weeks before graduation because he revealed that he was gay.

Howard, gay San Francisco Chronicle journalist and fellow 12 Stepper Randy Shilts and I talked about this, among other issues, walking our dogs in a large dog park off Mulholland Boulevard. Randy later wrote about Howard in his opus “Conduct Unbecoming: Lesbians and Gays in the U.S. Military Vietnam to the Persian Gulf,” published in 1993. (Randy died of AIDS the following year. He was 42.)

After fling his lawsuit in District Court on Dec. 29, 1988, challenging the constitutionality of the gay ban, Steffan and his Lambda Legal attorneys met with reporters, who Steffan was surprised to fnd were supportive. Howard signed on late in 1989.

ban on homosexuals in the armed forces was justifed to prevent the spread of AIDS,” Eric Schmitt wrote in the New York Times on Dec. 10, 1991. “Other Federal courts have upheld the Pentagon’s ban, but the 35-page ruling issued today by Judge Oliver Gasch of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia is unusual for its reasoning. Neither the Defense Department nor the plaintiff, a gay midshipman who sued the United States Naval Academy over discrimination against homosexuals, raised the issue of AIDS. But Judge Gasch said the Government’s policy of excluding homosexuals ‘is rational in that it is directed, in part, at preventing those who are at the greatest risk of dying of AIDS from serving.’”

In his tribute to Howard, Cyd Zeigler, co-founder of Outsports.com, notes that grappling with the stigma of AIDS over all those years, helped build his career.

“Howard Bragman wasn’t just a publicist to the stars. He was an important trailblazer for the LGBT community who fought tirelessly for thoughtful, fair coverage of gay and lesbian people in sports and entertainment. And he was a dear friend,” Zeigler wrote, noting how Howard helped gay former NFL player Esera Tuaolo come out publicly in 2002 and, with Zeigler in 2006, former NBA player John Amaechi and subsequently athletes such as WNBA player Sheryl Swoopes, golfer Rosie Jones and most famously, University of Missouri defensive player Michael Sam as he prepared for the NFL Draft.

“The truth is always what you got from Howard,” Zeigler wrote. “While his job was often crisis management when stars made mistakes, his general approach was to tackle the issue head-on. Howard wasn’t a bullshitter, he’d tell you what he thinks and he had the confdence and fortitude to stick to his guns. As a gay man in Hollywood in the 80s and 90s during the AIDS epidemic, it was that strength that helped him build a career even as stigma built.”

That’s what made Howard so special, so different from cut-throat manipulative Hollywood “facks.” This highly regarded, in-demand public relations professional, crisis management expert and the go-to guy for celebrities who wanted to come out of the closet never forgot where he came from.

“As a fat, Jewish, gay kid in Flint, Michigan, I always felt like a Martian,” he said in announcing a $1 million endowment in 2021 to establish the Howard Bragman Coming Out Fund at the University of Michigan, operated by the

“Bragman had thoroughly impeccable professional credentials,” Randy wrote. “He had been vice president of Burson-Marsteller before launching his own public relations business in Beverly Hills. His client roster included L.A. Gear, the trendy shoe manufacturer, and numerous entertainment celebrities. At 33, he was also young enough to be comfortable being openly gay and felt obliged to devote a portion of his time and talent to support the gay movement. In Steffen, Bragman saw a man much like himself, a gay professional rather than a professional gay, but someone also committed to diminishing the prejudice gays faces in their daily lives. By late 1989, largely due to Bragman’s efforts, Joe Steffen would become the most visible gay person in America.”

That AIDS hung like a scrim over much of heterosexual thinking during the AIDS years became accidentally evident in 1991 during the long course of Steffen’s case.

“A Federal District judge ruled today that the military’s

Howard, who subsequently launched Fifteen Minutes and later La Brea Media, represented a slew of famous folks and often appeared as an on-air expert for TV programs. In 1991, he helped bring out actor Dick Sargent, the second Darrin and loving husband to Elizabeth Montgomery in “Bewitched” and “Family Ties” mom Meredith Baxter before she was outed in the tabloids. Howard also helped Chaz Bono navigate his very public transgender transition.

On a personal note, Howard and I became friends over the years, recognizing in each other the deep and soulful commitment to our people. He was one of the frst people to reach out to me after Frontiers decided I was too old to be the news editor for LA’s then-most important LGBTQ publication. It was a kindness I will never forget.

Howard Bragman was a mainstream star. But it is critical that we not forget or that we fnd out here and by researching our own history how instrumental he was in guiding those living in glass closets to come out and energize their own authentic selves in the LGBTQ movement.

PR guru and LGBTQ rights advocate HOWARD BRAGMAN died at age 66. (Photo by Karen Ocamb)

USAID administrator meets with Hungarian LGBTQ activists

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power on Feb. 10 met with three LGBTQ and intersex activists in the Hungarian capital of Budapest.

Budapest Pride President Viktoria Radvanyi and Hungarian Helsinki Committee Head of Advocacy András Léderer are two of the activists who met with Power.

USAID spokesperson Jessica Jennings in a press release said the activists “discussed the experiences of LGBTQI+ people in Hungary and their efforts to increase understanding, support marginalized groups and improve the lives of LGBTQI+ people in Hungary” with Power.

“The administrator (Power) emphasized that the United States will continue to stand as an ally with LGBTQI+ people and all marginalized groups in their struggle for equality,” noted Jennings.

The meeting took place against the backdrop of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s crackdown on LGBTQ and intersex rights in Hungary.

Radvanyi on Monday noted to the Blade it is “impossible to change your gender legally in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “banned legal gender recognition of transgender and intersex people.”

An anti-LGBTQ propaganda law that Radvanyi said was “copy and pasted” from Russia took effect in 2021. Hungarian MPs in 2020 effectively banned same-sex cou-

ples from adopting children and defned marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman.

The European Commission last July sued Hungary, which is a member of the European Union, over the country’s propaganda law.

President Joe Biden in 2021 signed a memorandum that committed the U.S. to promoting LGBTQ and intersex rights abroad as part of his administration’s overall foreign policy. David Pressman, the U.S. ambassador to Hungary, is openly gay.

Jennings in the USAID press release did not say whether Pressman attended the meeting with the activists, but it did note he met with Power before she left Budapest. Radvanyi said the activists who attended “were all very honored that Administrator Power had a dedicated meeting just about the Hungarian LGBTQ community and LGBTQ issues.”

“We know that she has a very, very busy schedule,” Radvanyi told the Blade. “We really appreciated that she treated the case of our community as such a high priority.”

Léderer described the meeting as a “very honest, sincere conversation on the situation of the Hungarian LGBT+ community.”

“In addition to how the community as a whole carries on amidst growing homo- and transphobic government policies and statements, she also wanted to know how

individual members of the community, including those fghting for equal treatment and human rights, are coping with the hostile environment,” Léderer told the Blade, referring to Power. “We were happy to share great examples of resilience, including the successful campaign led by civil society organisations last year to invalidate the homo- and transphobic referendum initiated by the government by casting purposefully spoiled ballots.”

Biden, Lula reiterate support of LGBTQ rights

President Joe Biden and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Friday in a joint statement issued after they met at the White House reiterated their support of LGBTQ and intersex rights.

“Both leaders noted they continue to reject extremism and violence in politics, condemned hate speech, and reaffrmed their intention to build societal resilience to disinformation and agreed to work together on these issues,” reads the statement. “They discussed common objectives of advancing the human rights agenda through cooperation and coordination on such issues as social inclusion and labor rights, gender equality, racial equity and justice and the protection of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons.”

Biden and Da Silva, among other things, committed to “reinvigorating the U.S.-Brazil Joint Action Plan to Eliminate Racial and Ethnic Discrimination and Promote Equality to mutually beneft marginalized racial, ethnic and indigenous communities, including people of African descent, in both countries.”

The Brazilian Foreign Affairs Ministry posted the statement on its website.

The meeting took place roughly a month after thousands

of supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro stormed their country’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace. The insurrection took place a week after Da Silva’s inauguration.

Da Silva, a member of the leftist Workers’ Party, was Brazil’s president from 2003-2010. He defeated Bolsonaro, a

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

member of the right-wing Liberal Party, in the second round of Brazil’s presidential election that took place last October.

Bolsonaro — who has not publicly acknowledged he lost the election and few to Florida two days before Da Silva’s inauguration — while in offce faced sharp criticism over his rhetoric against LGBTQ and intersex Brazilians and other marginalized groups. Bolsonaro, among other things, also said people who are vaccinated against COVID-19 are at increased risk for AIDS.

Julian Rodrigues, who coordinated the Workers’ Party’s National Working Group from 2006-2012, during a previous interview with the Washington Blade noted Da Silva in 2014 launched the Health Ministry’s “Brazil without Homophobia” campaign. Da Silva also created the Culture Ministry’s Diversity Secretariat that, among other things, worked to make Brazilian law enforcement more LGBTQ-friendly.

Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker who is one of two openly transgender women in the Brazilian Congress, last October after her election told the Blade during an interview in São Paulo that Da Silva’s victory over Bolsonaro is “an important step for democracy.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

UK to block efforts to reform Wales gender recognition law

The Tory government of U.K. Prime Minster Rishi Sunak will block any effort by the government of Wales to push forward plans to reform gender-recognition laws that would allow transgender Welsh to obtain a Gender Recognition Certifcate without a medical diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a government spokesperson told Britain’s leading LGBTQ news outlet.

In a statement to PinkNewsUK, a spokesperson from the Equalities Offce told the LGBTQ+ news outlet the

Tory-led government wants to ensure that “LGBT people are treated equally” but would not budge on permitting devolved reform of the GRA (Gender Recognition Act) in Wales.

On Tuesday, the Welsh government (Llywodraeth Cymru) in Cardiff announced that it had launched its LGBTQ+ Action Plan for Wales. Deputy Social Partnership Minister Hannah Blythyn said that Wales’ plan aims to improve the rights of LGBTQ people such as banning

all aspects of so-called conversion therapy practice. She did acknowledge that but currently the Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) cannot make its own gender recognition laws.

The plans for improvement of the Gender Recognition Act to affect trans Welsh that has the backing of the Senedd Cymru is based on similar legislation put forward and by the Scottish Parliament.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Brazilian President LUIZ INÁCIO LULA DA SILVA, and U.S. President JOE BIDEN at the White House on Feb. 10. (Photo courtesy of the White House)

U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator SAMANTHA POWER speaks in Budapest, Hungary, last week. (Photo courtesy of USAID)

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GREGORY J. ALEXANDER

systems

When tragedy strikes, you never know what will happen next. What’s the next punch in the gut that will knock you unconscious? That is what happened to me on March 20, 2021, when my beautiful, healthy, loving brother Tom died suddenly of a heart attack. A man who was 53 years old, ran five miles a day, and ate salads, tuna, and grilled chicken. And here I was, his younger brother, who sometimes eats poorly and rarely exercises, left to pick up the pieces once again.

The news came as a shock. My husband and I were relaxing, reading the paper and having a mimosa. Then, my brother’s mother-in-law called. As she relayed to me what had happened, I blacked out, unable to comprehend what she was saying. In fact, I did not even know who she was. I handed the phone to my husband, confused and convinced that what was happening was notactuallyhappening. But it was happening. My brother was dead, and my precious 15-year-old niece was alone with him when it occurred.

I collapsed on the floor and was inconsolable, and I remained in that state for hours. Even our two cats were concerned, circling me nonstop, as I loudly wailed and screamed, noises they had never heard in the 11 years since we adopted them from the shelter. Finally, my husband Paul told me that I had to call my parents to tell them what had happened. Somehow, I mustered the strength to do so, recalling the similar moment in 1997 when my parents called me to inform me that my oldest brother David had died by suicide. I called them, but I don’t remember much of what I said. All I remember was my mom saying, “Not Tom!” Next, I called my mom’s sister and informed her of the news. More shock, grief, anguish, and confusion. Worried about my parents being alone, I left messages with their friends, Jack and Nina, and asked if they could go over and be with them until I could get there.

My husband, Paul, and I struggled that day to simply figure out how and when to fly to South Carolina to be with my family. I was completely useless, unable to do anything to help with arrangements. Paul put aside his grief for the loss of his brother-in-law and friend to take care of me, like he’s always done. And ever since, he has continued to do so—through all of my anxiety attacks, grief, anger, and inability to attend social functions. He has been my rock, and my love for him has never been greater.

What happened in the days after I got to South Carolina remains a blur — flowers, gifts, kind calls, me having to write my brother’s obituary and help with arrangements, including picking up the death certificate — on my birthday no less. What also happened was silence. Silence from friends and family members who I assumed would be there in my greatest moment of need but were surprisingly absent. Finally, my good friend Kevin said it best: “Don’t focus on those who have disappointed you; focus on those who have surprised you by being there.”

Great advice? Yes. Easy to follow? Not exactly.

However, I followed Kevin’s advice. I was confident that I could rely on my closest group of friends — the “Balt 8” (named for eight of us who became great friends while living in Baltimore). Later that year, while attending my first party since Tom’s death, I had a horrific anxiety attack, and Kevin asked no questions and instead took me for a long walk in the cold and misty rain. My best friend, Joy, who I have known since college and is like a sister to me, was there day and night. My close friend Maureen sent me TV recommendations to help make me laugh.

While I knew that the Balt 8 would lift me up, what I remember the most during this time were the people who unexpectedly came to my rescue.

After Tom died, one of the first people who reached out to me was Renee, a friend from high school who I had not seen in person since our graduation in 1988. Suddenly this long-lost high school classmate became a rock who I would rely on for months to come and who sent care baskets filled with goodies from her home state of Louisiana. I guess it shouldn’t surprise me — on Jan. 6, 2021, when I, along, with most Americans watched in horror as a mob besieged the U.S. Capitol, I was living not too far away. Too shaken by what I had witnessed, I called my supervisor at The Trevor Project to let them know that I

would not be able to perform my volunteer shift that night. Anxiously, I waited for my husband to get home safely from work when I saw an incoming call via Facebook Messenger. It was Renee. She just wanted to make sure that my husband and I were safe.

Other friends came through via simple acts — my friends Tim and Regan in Seattle held a candlelit vigil for my brother whom they had never met, while my friend Steve sends me texts often just to see how I was doing.

While we live in Washington, D.C., we still keep our sailboat in Baltimore where we were lucky enough to land on the marina’s J-Dock and quickly made friends. Self-dubbed “The Island of Misfit Toys,” after the classic Christmas special, somehow, we were all brought together and became friends. During my grief period, everyone on the J-Dock brought something different to the table. Some brought tenderness and love; others brought levity with crude jokes that I was embarrassed to laugh at. Our boat neighbor Carrie asked me each morning how I was doing, and when I was having a tough day, she’d recommend we go to the pool, where we would relax, have a cocktail and laugh nonstop, usually at ourselves. When the bouquet of flowers for Tom’s funeral arrived from the J-Dock, it was obvious that Carrie, a fellow college football fan, had chosen it — the beautiful orange and purple flowers were a testament to my brother’s beloved favorite team, the Clemson Tigers. It was very typical of Carrie — she shows her love in a quiet, reserved way, but it’s still felt strongly.

While I appreciated everyone’s support at the marina, there are two friends that I relied on more than any — Jon and Jill.

After Tom’s death, I learned that my family has a history of heart disease. I went to my doctor and had every conceivable heart-related test, and thankfully, there was no evidence of heart disease. However, that didn’t completely eliminate my fears. The thoughts kept racing in my head: “Tom was the healthy one, so how can I be OK?” One day, I called Jon to ask him if he could stay on the phone with me, as I was having an anxiety attack. With his trademark humor, he quickly said, “You are not having a heart attack, drama queen.” But then he added, “I’ll be right there.” And he was, time and time again.

Later that summer, I had a similar anxiety attack, and I texted Jill. Luckily, she works from her boat, so she was home, and when I asked if she had a few minutes, instinctively, she knew something was up. Within seconds, I could feel my boat shift, signaling that someone was coming aboard, and there was Jill with her chihuahua, Little Dog, to help calm my nerves. “I don’t know what to do,” Jill admitted. I explained that I didn’t either. “Why don’t we go for a walk and get off our boats?” she suggested. I agreed to walk just around the marina, as I did not feel emotionally strong enough to leave the safety net of the docks. We discussed what anxiety feels like, but we also enjoyed our surroundings and Little Dog’s idiosyncrasies. And I laughed. Thank goodness, I laughed.

My brother’s death also resulted in a seismic shift in my relationship with his ex-wife, Chris. On the surface, Tom and Chris’s relationship may have seemed unconventional to many — over the course of 30-plus years, they dated, broke up, dated again, married and divorced, but through it all, they remained best friends. They hung out together all the time, ran together several times a week, and, most importantly, they raised their amazing and kind daughter, Jordan.

When my oldest brother David died by suicide in 1997, Tom was the one who found him. Even though they were not dating at the time, Chris was there for my family, and, most importantly, Tom. Tom was frustratingly closed off emotionally sometimes, and never more so than after David’s death. Chris was the one person who could get him to open up, so thankfully he clung to her.

While Chris and I at times had grown apart since the divorce, Tom’s death thrust us back together. We were no longer simply former in-laws and friends; we were partners in pain. Will I survive this? Yes, because I have no other choice. How? I have no idea, but I have to hold onto hope that whenever I am struggling, there will be someone who will unexpectedly fill my heart with love.

I survived overwhelming grief thanks to unexpected support

A lifeline I didn’t know I had — or needed

The author (right) with his brother TOM ALEXANDER (left) and husband PAUL (center).

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

D.C. Council pokes Congress and Congress strikes back

Local officials need to reconsider their legislative priorities

Congress is moving from petty to real; from taking away the D.C. mayor’s right to go on the floor of the House to using their right to control D.C.’s legislation and budget. We are seeing Republicans trying to control more of what happens in the District of Columbia. Sadly, they still can. There are issues that will definitely bring a reaction from Congress and the D.C. Council has now found two that even Democrats are reacting to. I am against Congress interfering in D.C. government. It is offensive. But they can as D.C. does not have legislative or budget autonomy.

Recently, Council Chair Phil Mendelson held a press conference accusing Congress of playing politics. OK, so what was his point? Yes, Congress is about politics, but so is the D.C. Council. When Republicans are in charge there is more chance they will try to attack D.C.

The House voted in favor of two disapproval resolutions with bipartisan support. One was the bill allowing non-citizens to vote in D.C. elections; second was the major revision of the D.C. criminal code. I have written before both bills were flawed when they passed. Nevertheless, I am opposed to having Congress take this action. But it was to be expected. The Council had to know this would happen. If the resolutions don’t get through the Senate, Republicans will try to do this through amendments to funding bills. What gives Republicans hope these will pass in the Senate is on the non-citizen voting rights bill 42 Democrats joined Republicans and on the criminal code revision 31 did.

One of the Democrats voting against the criminal code overhaul was Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.) who had just been mugged in her apartment building in D.C. With a crime wave in D.C., and across the nation, it is difficult for anyone up for election in 2024 to justify voting to reduce maximum penalties for crimes. When it comes to non-citizens voting, it is just as difficult to approve a bill giving migrants living in D.C. for 30 days the right to vote. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the far-right congressman, touted to his colleagues it would give Russian and Chinese diplomats here for more than 30 days the right to vote. Hard to support that with the war in Ukraine and Chinese balloons flying over us.

Let me state again, emphatically, I am against the Congress doing this. They should butt out of D.C.’s business. But the ones who must accept the blame for this happening, are the members of the D.C. Council who voted for these flawed bills. Again, they had to know this would happen.

Mayor Bowser appropriately vetoed the Criminal Code overhaul and submitted legislation to fix the bill. Even so she has told Congress to butt out and even got President Biden to tell them the same thing. The president has not committed to vetoing these resolutions should they get to his desk. I doubt he will. Neither bill as written will be popular with the majority of the voters in the country. Based on what I am hearing they are not even that popular with the residents of the District. This embarrassment to the District of having home rule questioned this way could have been avoided with better legislation. It is time the Council slows down and thinks first.

There is lots of legislation that Congress will not react to but that is still flawed. The new chair of the Housing Committee has told the mayor to stop pushing for the closing of tent encampments like the one on McPherson Square. Clearly, he doesn’t live near there and likely hasn’t been yelled at or threatened by those living in that unsafe encampment. The Washington Post has a well-thought-out editorial on the issue. Now the chair is appropriately calling for not only housing for those removed from the encampment but for other services including mental health services. Those things cost money, and the Council is passing bills like money is no object. Well, it is! Federal pandemic money is drying up. Maybe instead of making busses free to everyone in D.C. at a cost of $42 million a year, the Council should have found a way to fund fares for those in need, and not for tourists and commuters from Maryland and Virginia.

The Council needs to get its priorities right, and currently it clearly isn’t doing that.

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Biden’s disappointing SOTU address ignored anti-LGBTQ violence

It is a truth universally acknowledged that nothing has ever substantively changed because of a president’s State of the Union Address. SOTUs are a celebration of pageantry, which exists solely to impress the political class, and their docile friends in the media. If a State of the Union Address holds any meaning at all, it’s as a venue for the president to amplify an agenda, simultaneously pressuring the legislative branch and inspiring the American people. And although President Biden largely accomplished that goal last Tuesday, some topics were given more airtime than others.

Although Biden alleviated concerns about inflation, and used his bully pulpit to corner Republicans on the debt ceiling, LGBTQ rights were barely mentioned. The totality of Biden’s comments on the subject could be found in two lines: asking Congress to pass the Equality Act, ensuring “ LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity,” and referencing the Respect for Marriage Act. Elected officials must do more than pass legislation. They should also embody the spirit of their age, including its indignation and righteous fury. President Biden’s remarks fell well below that standard.

The LGBTQ community is being attacked more harshly than anytime in recent memory. Nine Republican-controlled state legislatures have introduced bills attempting to restrict, or criminalize, drag shows. The same legislative bodies created bills banning gender affirming care for youth, flouting Title 9 protections for LGBTQ students, and targeting queer teachers. Meanwhile, rampant demonization of queer people as “groomers,” trying to “indoctrinate,” children has generated an outpouring of violent attacks against the community, from Molotov cocktails thrown through the windows of bakeries that host drag shows, to Proud Boys disrupting drag queen story hours with guns at their side. The right’s institutionalized dehumanization of LGBTQ people led to five dead inside Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colo., an argument supported by testimony from the massacre’s survivors. Yet the far-right refuses to back down.

Instead, Tucker Carlson invited Chaya Raichik, creator of Libs of TikTok, to endanger queer people further. In the world created by Raichik and Carlson, the LGBTQ community is a “cult,” populated by “evil people,” trying to “groom kids.” The language used by conservative pundits, politicians, and media personalities to describe the LGBTQ community has crossed the threshold into eliminationist territory. They’re aware of the power these words hold, and the unimaginable consequences their arguments have for queer people throughout the country. We can only assume the violence perpetuated against LGBTQ people is the expected, and indeed, preferred, outcome.

President Biden didn’t mention Club Q, or how the recycling of old homophobic and transphobic tropes has created a generation of extremists with murderous intent against their LGBTQ neighbors. Despite happily challenging Republicans on the debt ceiling, and using the murder of Tyre Nichols as a rallying call for police reform, it seems he didn’t feel such exertions were necessary for the nation’s queer community. Presumably because Biden didn’t feel he needed to defend his record on LGBTQ rights. According to GLAAD, 81% of LGBTQ voters supported Biden in the 2020 presidential election, a constituency that remained supportive throughout his presidency. Biden’s complacency toward LGBTQ voters is shared with the Democratic Party itself, and the assumption that LGBTQ are an unshakable portion of the Democratic base allows for the party’s worse tendencies to continue unabated.

In an interview with the Financial Times last year, Hillary Clinton disparaged the party for focusing on “activist causes,” commenting that trans rights are “relevant only to a small minority.” Likewise, analysis from media outlet MIC showed a pervasive reticence among Democratic leadership to specifically attack anti-trans policies, defaulting to broad generalizations about “anti-LGBTQ,” laws.

As the right’s crusade against all things LGBTQ intensifies, consistently the community’s saviors haven’t been commentators or political leaders, but the community itself. A community defense force protected a “transgender storytime,” event in Denton, Texas, one of many “community defense,” and “community safety,” groups popping up throughout the country. The Club Q shooter would have harmed more people had he not been disarmed and subdued by the club’s patrons. Without a trustworthy institution to rely upon, queer people have begun taking their safety, and the security of their loved ones, into their own hands.

The Biden administration is undoubtedly better than its predecessor on LGBTQ rights. The administration’s accomplishments are real, and tangible. Yet Biden, and the Democratic Party’s unwillingness to campaign on these efforts undermine them, portraying LGBTQ rights as just another “culture war,” issue, rather than as a fight for civil and legal protections that millions are engaged in every day. Taking for granted the LGBTQ voter is a dangerous mistake, one that could cost Democrats in 2024.

Our enemies are demonizing us; we need allies to step up

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Golden Girls return to D.C.

‘The Laughs Continue’ to run at Warner Theatre from Feb. 23-26

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Miami’s sassiest seniors will take D.C. by storm when they take the stage at the Warner Theatre from Feb. 23-26.

Robert Leleux — whose previous work includes “The Memoirs of a Beautiful Boy” and “The Living End” — wrote “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue.” It documents the lives of the four cheesecake-loving older women in “The Golden Girls.”

Sophia (Christopher Kamm) is out on bail after the Drug Enforcement Administration arrested her for running a drug ring for older adults. Blanche (Vince Kelley) and Rose (Christopher Kamm) created CreakN, a “sex app for seniors.” And the relationship-challenged Dorothy is with a much younger man (Jason Bowen) on the aforementioned app. Bowen also plays Dorothy’s ex-husband Stanley.

Kelley’s favorite from the original show. Kelley also noted CreakN is difficult for Blanche to use because “she doesn’t identify as a senior.”

Blanche in season seven’s “The Case of the Libertine Bell” episode that takes place during a murder mystery weekend points out “flirting is part of my heritage” because she is “from the South.” Rose asked Blanche what she meant, and Dorothy told her that Blanche’s mother was “a slut too.”

“There’s a few of those zingers in this one too,” Swanson told the Blade. “Sometimes they just lay it down.”

‘Ahead of their time’ on LGBTQ issues

“The Golden Girls” premiered on NBC on Sept. 14, 1985.

The series ran for seven seasons until it ended on ay 9, 1992. “The Golden Palace” in which Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty starred after Bea Arthur left “The Golden Girls” ran for one season.

“The Golden Girls” is one of the first primetime shows that discussed AIDS, marriage equality, and other LGBTQ issues.

Blanche’s brother Clayton, for example, comes out to his sister as gay in season four’s “Scared Straight” after he claimed he slept with Rose. Clayton and his boyfriend Doug during season six’s “Sister of the Bride” episode tell Blanche, Dorothy, and Sofia that they want to get married.

Dorothy’s brother Phil was a crossdresser, and her friend Jean is a lesbian who falls in love with Rose during season two’s “Isn’t It Romantic?” episode. Rose in season five’s “72 Hours” episode tests HIV-negative after she fears a blood transfusion she had exposed her to the virus.

“They were so ahead of their time in the things that they were tackling: AIDS and all that kind of stuff, and LGBTQ rights and discrimination against Jewish people. All things we’re still dealing with today, which is unfortunate, but it’s nice to turn to them and see how your good friends Blanche, Rose, Dorothy and Sophia are dealing with the same problems that you’re dealing with today,” said Kelley.

“I love the progressiveness that they had, especially when you look at the time and the era and what was going on, not just politically, but regarding feminism and sexuality and all of that. it was just incredibly brave,” Swanson told the Blade.

He further noted “The Golden Girls” also addressed interracial marriage and aging.

Eric Swanson, co-founder of the Detroit Actors’ Theatre Company, directs “Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” and Murray and Peter Present produced the play. A version of it showed at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre in July 2022.

“You will feel like you have watched sort of this hour and a half sort of special on a TV and it should feel just like you’re hitting play or whatever it is on your streaming service and here it is,” Swanson told the Washington Blade during a recent Zoom interview from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. “The set looks like the set and we utilize the cheesecake — there’s so much cheesecake in this play. You can’t do Golden Girls without cheesecake.”

Swanson said he and Leloux binge watched “every episode” of the original show in four days.

“We wanted to create new content, that was our number one goal,” Swanson told the Blade. “We didn’t want to parody anything. We wanted to completely attack new material and new ways of thinking for women and aging adults in this generation.”

Blanche ‘weaponizes what God has given her’

Kelley told the Blade from Michigan during a telephone interview that Blanche is “very free and my brand of sassy.”

“I love the sensuality of Blanche and that she weaponizes what God has given her to her advantage.”

The scene in season two’s “The Actor” episode in which Blanche’s inflatable breasts deflate when she is hugging an actor during an audition to be his love interest is among

“They were addressing these things about what it’s like to age,” he said. “Whether you are a conservative, you’re a liberal, you are gay, you are straight, the one thing we all have is age. We can all relate to age and they led that narrative on what is it like to age and feel left out and have to fight again.”

Swanson and Kelley both teased bits of the play.

Kelley notes it is Dorothy’s “day in the sun” when she mets her younger man on CreakN. He also told the Blade that Sophia “had to do another small stint in Shady Pines due to another slip and fall.”

While there she decided, “how can I make a quick buck,” said Kelley. “I’m going to turn into Walter White and monetize that.”

Kelly noted the play is “all new material.”

“You’ll get a whole new fun story that even if you seen every episode twice, you’re gonna get something new. But we definitely have all your favorite lines, all the catchphrases, all the tropes and scenarios that you would expect,” he said. “We’re not trying to reinvent the Golden Girls, we’re just trying to add on to them.”

“We wanted to create something in their honor,” Swanson told the Blade.

“Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue” will be at the Warner Theatre (1299 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) from Feb. 23-26. Tickets start at $30. A VIP experience that includes a meet and greet with the cast after the show is $99. Tickets are available at warnerthreatredc.com.

‘Golden Girls: The Laughs Continue’ cast (Photo by MP Present)

CALENDAR |

Friday, February 17

Center Aging Monthly Yoga and Lunch will be at 12 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Lunch will be held in the climate-controlled atrium at the Reeves Center. For more information, contact Adam at adamheller@thedccenter.org

Urban Social DC PDW Kick Off Pop Up Happy Hour will be at 6 p.m. at Brooklyn on U. Entry is free for all guests who RSVP and arrive before 6 p.m. There will be music by DJ Obie, VIP specials, hookah and food. For more details, visit Eventbrite.

Saturday, February 18

Virtual Yoga Class with Jesse Z. will be at 12 p.m. online. This is a weekly class focusing on yoga, breathwork, and meditation. Guests are encouraged to RSVP on the DC Center’s website, providing your name, email address, and zip code, along with any questions you may have. A link to the event will be sent at 6 p.m. the day before.

LGBT People of Color Support Group will be at 1 p.m. on Zoom. This peer support group is an outlet for LGBTQ people of color to come together and talk about anything affecting them in a space the strives to be safe and judgment free. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org

Sunday, February 19

“Drag Show for Charity” will be at 8 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant. Tips to the drag performers this evening will benefit worthy charities that have been vetted by the Imperial Court of Washington DC. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Monday, February 20

Center Aging Monday Coffee and Conversation will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. LGBT older adults—and friends— are invited to enjoy friendly conversations and to discuss any issues you might be dealing with. For more information, visit the Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter Genderqueer DC will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a support group on Zoom for people who identify outside of the gender binary, whether you’re bigender, agender, genderfluid or not 100 percent cisgender. For more information, visit www.genderqueerdc.org or Facebook.

Tuesday, February 21

Bi Roundtable Discussion will be at 7 p.m. at the DC Center. The Center Bi monthly round table is an opportunity for people to gather in order to discuss issues related to bisexuality or as Bi individuals in a private setting. For more details, visit Facebook or Meetup Asexual and Aromantic Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a space where people who are questioning this aspect of their identity or those who identify as asexual and/or aromantic can come together, share stories and experiences, and discuss various topics. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org

Wednesday, February 22

Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking—allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more information, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers

“Showtime at Legacy” will be at 8:30p.m. at Legacy DC. this is a one of a kind platform that headlines and supports the top local artist of the DMV area. Guests will have the pleasure of enjoying live music from the artist of the month accompanied by our amazing Legacy House Band. Tickets cost $20 and can be purchased on Eventbrite

Thursday, February 23

The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC. To be more fair with who is receiving boxes, the program is moving to a lottery system. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.

OUT & ABOUT

Internationally acclaimed pianist to play at Strathmore

“An Evening of Chopin’s Chamber Music with Brian Ganz and Friends” will be on Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. at the Music Center at Strathmore.

Pianist Brian Ganz will celebrate his 12th annual concert in his quest to perform the complete works of Frédéric Chopin. Hewill be joined by Carter Brey, principal cellist for the New York Philharmonic, and Laura Colgate, concertmaster for the National Philharmonic. The artists will perform all the major chamber music works written by Chopin, including the rarely heard Trio in G minor for piano, violin and cello, Op. 8, as well as the famed Sonata for Cello and Piano in G minor.

Ticket prices start at $29 and free for young people 7–17.  For more details, visit www.nationalphilharmonic.org

Happy hour for lesbians

“DC Lesbian Happy Hour Meetup” will be on Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. at The Ven at Embassy Row Hotel in Dupont Circle.

GoGay DC will be hosting “LGBTQ+ Coffee and Conversation” at 12 p.m. at As You Are. This event is for those looking to meet new faces in the LGBTQ community. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite

The DC Anti-Violence Project Open Meeting will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The primary mission of the DC Anti-Violence Project is to reduce violence against LGBT individuals, and those perceived as LGBT, through community outreach, education, and monitoring cases to ensure that the rights and dignity of LGBT victims are respected and protected. For more details, visit Facebook and Twitter.

Guests will have exclusive use of the hotel’s art gallery space, a bar and happy hour specials, karaoke and games. Food is included–there will be a nice mix of vegetarian and meat appetizers and desserts.

This event is for singles, couples and those who simply want to meet other like-minded people. Tickets cost $15 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington, Va. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

BRIAN GANZ (Photo by Bruno Murialdo)

Rivalry and revenge. Whispered accusations. And a true heart driven to madness.

OTELLO

MDLO returns to Strathmore with the fourth production in its 2022–2023 Season of Verdi, Otello. A passionate retelling of Shakespeare’s great tragedy of jealousy, deception, and murder, Verdi’s fiery score penetrates the darkest reaches of the soul, from the heart-stopping crash of the storm at the opera’s opening to Otello’s tortured descent into murderous madness. Bravura singing, tremendous scenes for the MDLO Chorus, and a brilliant, thriller-paced adaptation of Shakesepeare’s text make Otello an edge-of-your-seat must-see.

GREGORY KUNDE

Otello

“Passionate, beautiful... clear, strong, focused tone...genuine nobility”

(The New York Times)

MARK DELAVAN

Iago

“Half-divine, halfhuman voice” (Wall Street Journal)

ELENI CALENOS

Desdemona

“A performance for the ages”

(Opera News)

PHILIPPE AUGUIN

Conductor

“A strong, ardent and often meltingly beautiful reading of the score”

(The Washington Post)

Pre-performance discussion with legendary star SHERRILL MILNES

Friday, March 3 at 6:15 pm

Sunday, March 5 at 12:45 pm

Friday, March 3 at 7:30 pm | Sunday, March 5 at 2:00 pm

THE MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE TICKETS & INFORMATION AT www.MDLO.org

New play explores white privilege, queerness, body shaming

‘seven methods of killing kylie jenner’ at Woolly Mammoth through March 5

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Uber-talented Jasmine Lee-Jones’ enthralling and wildly titled two-hander “seven methods of killing kylie jenner” is about a lot of things, but murder really isn’t one of them. Beneath heated discussions of white-skinned privilege, queerness, and body shaming, it’s mostly a story of friendship.

Conceived at London’s Royal Court Theatre in 2019, the exhilarating Milli Bhatia-directed production finally landed stateside for runs at the Public Theater’s Under the Radar Festival last month in New York, and now in D.C. at Woolly Mammoth.

Cleo (Leanne Henlon) is full of energy, ideas, and justifiable resentment. So, when she learns that Forbes Magazine has named Kylie Jenner the world’s youngest “self-made” billionaire, the young academic is understandably irked and can’t let it go.

What’s the hubbub about a rich white woman (she’s the daughter of Caitlin Jenner and her ex-wife Kris, the woman behind the Kardashians) making more money? And is that success self-made? Cleo says nay. And what’s more irritating, she adds, is a white woman who co-opts and profits from Black culture. Jenner’s celebrated aesthetic enhancements — larger lips and a thicker lower body — are the same things Cleo, a dark-skinned Black woman, was made to feel bad about her entire life.

Recently dumped and already in a bad mood (“I’m craving dick”), Cleo unleashes long tucked away anger in a Twitter rant. Under her handle @INCOGNEGRO, she spells out ways to take down Kylie (more discussion points than literal threats) including death by disgrace, disfigurement, drowning, etc. She summons the horrors of the Middle Passage and the tragic fate of exploited Black woman Sarah Baartman who as Hottentot Venus endured the stares of gawkers who paid to view her prodigious derriere.

As things blow up, lifelong bestie Kara (Tia Bannon) floats in for a visit. An amiable queer stoner, she encourages Cleo to reel it in a bit, but it’s too late. Unsurprisingly, the provocative tweet has gone viral, things are happening fast in these 90 minutes of both virtual and real time.

Other shows have projected tweets, texts, and emojis, but here the formidable actors speak, act out, and physicalize them. It’s fast, furious, and often funny. The cloud is all encompassing and they’re in it.

Back IRL, old resentments bubble up – Cleo has long been uncomfortable with the attention showered on her best friend, a light skinned Black woman whose soft curly hair is easily straightened. Kara suspects her pal of homophobia. A glossed over schism is unearthed.

When Cleo was a little girl, her grandmother stroked her nose in what seemed an expression of affection but as she grew older, Cleo realized that granny was trying to prevent her expanding probiscis from growing bigger and wider. A litany of unpleasant looks-related experiences followed for Cleo, the worst being a traumatic assault simply referred to as #wiggate.

Henlon and Bannon have played Cleo and Kara for some time, but as they speak in the rapid-fire shorthand of old friends, there’s not a smidgen of the rote in their wholly realized and dynamic performances.

Like her play’s characters, Lee-Jones is a young Black Londoner. She describes two women who argue savagely and then get over it as only some bosom friends do. Her writing includes the latest local slang, memes, gifs, acronyms, and emojis as well as carefully considered themes, specific injustices, and situations. It’s sharp, timely, and very believable.

‘seven methods of killing kylie

Through

LEANNE HENLON (Cleo) and TIA BANNON (Kara) in ‘seven methods of killing kylie jenner.’ (Photo by DJ Corey)

D.C.’s hottest new LGBTQ nightclub is — Bunker ‘A real playground with energy that’s

By EVAN CAPLAN

D.C.’s hottest new nightclub is — Bunker. Opening within the next month, Bunker takes over the space vacated by Tropicalia at the busy corner of 14th and U streets, N.W. And filling a need for a dedicated dance club, Bunker is set to take D.C. LGBTQ nightlife to the next level.

Owned by the producers of KINETIC Presents, Zach Renovatés and Jesus Quispe, Bunker will be open Thursday-Sunday, each night featuring a distinct theme.

Bunker takes up the mantle of celebrated nightlife spots that have closed in recent years: Cobalt, Town Danceboutique, Secrets, and DC Eagle.

“As a longtime DC resident, it was devastating,” says Renovatés. “ There was no guaranteed space to have that night out for dancing, just for our community.”

Running KINETIC Presents, Renovatés has been producing events for the LGBTQ community for nearly a decade. He works with business partner Quispe to host rotating parties at various venues, like Echostage and Bliss.

KINETIC, however, has become not just a company that throws parties, but a safe space. For example, KINETIC partners with Capital Pride Alliance in June and throughout the year, and produces events like Mid-Atlantic Leather. During the monkeypox outbreak, KINETIC provided attendees with health information and guidance. With its own space, Renovatés can leverage a physical location as a more substantive platform to gather and share.

Yet as KINETIC grew, so did the need for a dedicated, LGBTQ-owned-and-operated location for guests to get together.

unlike anything else’

Bunker presented itself as that location.

“This is a space that’s 100% for the LGBTQ community and by the LGBTQ community,” he says.

“Our goal,” he says, “is to grow nightlife, to bring more talent and more tourists. We want to support the economic growth of the city, and know that LGBTQ patrons can help do that with Bunker.”

What also sets Bunker apart is the live DJ sets that spin every night it’s open. “You can expect production levels similar to venues that KINETIC was in,” he says. “What is important to me is that it has unique music every night.”

Bunker will source local, national, and international DJs representing various genres. Pop, house, circuit, and disco will all be featured. In the works is also Sunday “disco daddy” tea day-to-night party. Other events include a nightly 7-9 p.m. happy hour as a social lubricant for the rest of the evening, whether that’s at Bunker or another location. Renovatés notes that he has strong relations with other gay bars in the city, and looks forward to being located within walking distance of many of them.

Renovatés says that drag and other entertainment are also in the works.

As for the actual space itself, “when I descended those stairs since I saw it as Tropicalia, the first thing I saw was beautiful concrete walls – that’s why we went with the name. We embraced that.”

“With Bunker, we’ve taken the interior down to its essentials and are rebuilding it exactly for what our community needs.” He shied away from leaning in too hard on the

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS

Featuring the Mason Dance Company Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m.

A vibrant program by this acclaimed choreographer

VOCTAVE

The Corner of Broadway and Main Street

Sunday, Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. Featuring favorites from Broadway musicals and Disney films!

underground aesthetic. While plenty of concrete delivers the bunker vibe, “where Bunker shines is bringing in murals, lighting, sound, and more. It represents the color and vibrance of community.”

The 11-foot ceilings certainly helped.

A custom-built, 600-pound steel door that “looks like it was blasted into the side of a mountain” welcomes partygoers. While inside is lots of steel and rock, it still has character. “It’s like a ‘60s Cold War shelter made fabulous,” he says. Lively murals by various artists are splashed across the space, with relaxed seating meant to be used earlier in the evening.

“Our goal is that every single night, someone local or visiting can get an incredible DJ and lighting experience in a safe space that’s so important today,” says Renovatés. Bunker is not only a place to dance, he notes, it is the embodiment of the community space that was so lacking.

As Bunker’s website teases few details on the club, Renovatés hints that Instagram may be the platform for more information as the grand opening gets closer.

As soon as that concrete door lets guests in, Renovatés wants people to expect “a real playground with energy that’s unlike anything else in D.C.”

Chloé Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies LIVE!

Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m.

The viral tap dance phenomenon

Bunker takes over the space vacated by Tropicalia at the busy corner of 14th and U streets, N.W.

Located on the Fairfax campus of George Mason University. For information on health and safety protocols, visit

CHLOÉ ARNOLD’S SYNCOPATED LADIES LIVE!

Young lovers meet and meet again in thoughtful ‘Of

An Age’

Not a ‘gay romance,’ but simply a romance featuring gay characters

By JOHN PAUL KING

Early in “Of An Age,” one of its characters declares, “I like seeing movies from countries I haven’t visited.”

It’s a line of dialogue that catches our ear in part because, in context, it comes dripping with layers of hidden meaning, but it also serves as a ftting cornerstone in a flm that – though it’s set in a mundane Melbourne suburb and almost entirely focused on two characters – feels infused with a multitude of global perspectives. Perspective, in fact, seems key to the heart of gay writer/director Goran Stolevski’s thoughtful and refreshingly tender-hearted coming-of-age tale about an unexpected romance that lasts only 24 hours yet casts its spell across more than a decade. Inspired by his own youth in Australia, Stolevski begins his flm in 1999 and focuses on Nikola (Elias Anton), a closeted Serbian-born 18-year-old amateur ballroom dancer who lives with his very traditional Balkan immigrant family. On the morning of an important competition, his dance partner and best friend Ebony (Hattie Hook) calls in a panic, stranded on a beach miles away. He reluctantly enlists the help of her older brother Adam (Thom Green), visiting home on the eve of his departure for graduate school in Argentina, to drive him to her rescue. Though initially mistrustful, thanks to Adam’s word-of-mouth reputation, Nikola is soon won over, and by the time they pick up the wayward Ebony, an unspoken connection has formed between them, leading to an intense day and night in which the young men forge a deep bond with each other – both keenly aware of Adam’s inevitable departure the next morning.

his visual style communicates the unaired feelings behind it with more eloquence than words alone might ever capture. From the close-up intimacy with which he portrays his protagonists’ time together to the grim banality with which he drapes scenes of their respective family lives, he enables us to feel his movie through the atmosphere he builds; the love story at its center may not match our own nostalgic memories – or romantic fantasies, for viewers from younger generations – but the heady rollercoaster of desire, emotion, and bittersweet thrill that he evokes through the elegant-but-raw simplicity of his screen craft is profoundly recognizable nevertheless.

Heart-tugging as it may sometimes be, “Of An Age” doesn’t allow itself to become too precious or capitulate to sentiment, nor is it the kind of melancholy, hopeless tragedy so often told in movies about queer romance; on the contrary, one of its most surprising pleasures is its sly sense of humor, which is artfully displayed in a lengthy opening sequence depicting Ebony’s awakening on the beach. Seeing her terrifed and hysterical after a night she doesn’t remember, we assume the worst, but Stolevski disarms our expectations of drama by systematically revealing the absurd and comparatively harmless details behind it. He laces the same sense of ironic humor throughout, allowing himself the opportunity for numerous bemusing observations of “basic” existence pursued by the not-very-self-aware collection of friends and family in Nikola and Adam’s orbit; and while few of the dry comedic touches could be described as “laugh-out-loud” funny, they create and maintain a tone that not only keeps things from getting weighed down by the starry-eyed, yearning drama of his love story, but emphasizes the essential desire to rise above their surroundings that draws his lovers together as much as their palpable attraction for each other.

As to that, the sweetly authentic, superbly measured performances of its two leading men are a crucial element in keeping the movie on that narrow path between cynical and cloying. Individually, Anton and Green each create compelling and likable characters that feel far more feshed-out than the often thinly-wrought fgures at the center of many such romantic dramas, and they convincingly embody both the differences and the same-ness of their characters at ages a decade apart; together, they have a sweet but smoldering chemistry that ignites the feriest memories – both real and imagined –of our own treasured “fings” of the past, and that, of course, is a big part of the flm’s appeal.

From there, the story jumps ahead 11 years, when Nikola and Adam, now both living in other countries, reunite in Melbourne for Ebony’s wedding. It shouldn’t be surprising that a lot of long-carried emotional baggage begins to unpack, but the details of that are better left unspoiled, so we’ll just say that what happens measures the difference in perspective that transforms our lives throughout the years while reminding us that some things feel the same no matter how much else may have changed.

There’s a lot of delicate work involved in conveying a story with such universal scope within a movie as intimate as “Of An Age,” but Stolevski – a Macedonian Australian flmmaker whose frst movie, the period horror flm “You Won’t Be Alone,” premiered at Sundance 2022 – proves himself a delicate cinematic craftsman in telling it. Deploying his skills like a composer orchestrating a piece of music, he propels the narrative more through mood than plot; though his tersely composed dialogue leaves much unsaid,

The relationship here, of course, is more than just a fing, as Stolevski asserts by juxtaposing the leisurely, affectionately detailed roman à clef of his lovers’ youthful onenight affair with the more urgently succinct bookend of their reunion as fully formed adults. Though events of past and present are almost pointedly mirrored, they starkly illustrate the changes wrought by an evolution toward maturity, the differences in outlook that come from lived experience; the audacious dreams give way to managed expectations, the giddy recklessness leads to foolish choices, the happy-ever-after fantasies become tinged with the tempering sadness that comes with disappointment and loss. Yet through all those transformations, there is something between these two men that remains untouched by time and circumstance, a longing that most of us – if we are lucky – will recognize in our own hearts; it might not be enough to give us the kind of “happy ending” we once believed we wanted, but it’s a reminder that our most deeply felt connections endure even as everything else about us fades into something else, and that counts, perhaps, for much more than many of us recognize.

All of this helps make “Of An Age” a much better “gay romance” than its vaguely erotic, nostalgia-tinged marketing suggests it might be; but while American flms continue to struggle with that genre, this Australian love story between a Serbian and an Irishman gets it right by transcending it; though there’s some garden-variety xeno- and homophobia from some of the movie’s peripheral characters, and though Nikola’s struggle with coming out is part of his journey, the obstacle in this couple’s union has nothing to do with oppression, or even with sexual orientation, but rather with timing and situation; they are just two people, at a crossroads in their lives, who are drawn together by an essential quality at the center of their being they cannot fnd in anyone else around them.

It doesn’t feel like a “gay romance,” but simply a romance featuring gay people, and that makes all the difference.

ELIAS ANTON and THOM GREEN star in ‘Of An Age.’

Novel revisits real-life murder of gay couple in 1980 ‘Up With the Sun’ a story of ambition, lusts, obsessions

By KATHI WOLFE

If you’re in your right mind, you’d stop reading a novel whose protagonist is as appealing as a snake oil salesman without the charm. Even if he’s gay, murdered, and the star of several 1950s stage and movie musicals. Unless the book is “Up With the Sun,” the newest novel from acclaimed author Thomas Mallon.

Mallon, 71, is renowned for writing enthralling historical fiction. Too often, such novels are like high school history classes (taught by snooze-inducing teachers). They’re worthy. But you just want to eat your kale and get to dessert.

Thankfully, this isn’t so with “Up With the Sun.” The novel’s story is based on the real-life gay actor Dick Kallman, born in 1933 and murdered, along with his partner Steven, in 1980.

Kallman appeared on Broadway in 1951 in the musical “Seventeen.” In 1965-1966, he starred in the TV sitcom “Hank.” But though he replaced the lead in the Broadway show “Half a Sixpence,” and was a guest star on “Batman,” “Medical Center,” and a few other TV shows, Kallman never became a big showbiz success. By the 1970s, he’d left show business to work in fashion and as an art and antique dealer.

Much of “Up With the Sun” is about Kallman’s career in the second or even third tier of showbiz. It is a story of Kallman’s ambitions, yearnings, and lusts and obsessions: for success in show business, fame, money and Kenneth Nelson, who stars in “Seventeen.” Nelson, who is put off by Kallman’s personality, rejects his overtures.

Kallman is one of the creepiest characters ever brought

to the page. He is so phony, such a social climber, that he’s described as being “aggressively ingratiating.”

When he appears in a show with Dyan Cannon, Kallman is ticked off with her. He feels she’s upstaging him. That happens sometimes, you think. Until Kallman, in his pique, smashes Cannon’s finger. You can’t agree more when Cannon tells Kallman, “you’re a sick bastard!”

The other protagonist in “Up With the Sun” is Matt Liannetto, a pianist who worked with Kallman in “Seventeen.”

In alternating chapters, Matt narrates the novel. Matt is as sweet and endearing as Kallman is off-putting and slimy. He isn’t Kallman’s BFF (who would be?). But his path has crossed with Kallman’s over the years. He’s over at Kallman’s apartment the night that Kallman and Steven are killed.

The police turn to him for help in identifying the suspects. During the investigation, Matt and Devin Arroyo, a charming police assistant years younger than him, fall in love. Mallon, who is gay and lives in Washington, D.C., is the author of 11 novels, including “Henry and Clara,” “Dewey Defeats Truman,” “Fellow Travelers,” “Watergate,” and “Landfall.”

In his fiction, Mallon makes history as entertaining as a bodice-ripper, intriguing as a mystery and by turns, as comic and/or poignant as the best literary fiction set in the present.

In “Up With the Sun,” Mallon immerses you into the smells, tastes, sights, sounds, language, and characters (real-life and fictional) of the 1950s through 1981. Through his authorial sleight of hand, you come to care about not only

kindhearted Matt and Devin, but self-serving Kallman.

Much has been written in non-fiction and fiction about the time periods and real-life celebs featured in “Up With the Sun.” Yet, Mallon makes this familiar material – from Judy Garland’s concert at Carnegie Hall to the beginning of the AIDS crisis –seem new.

“All my life I’ve loved the past as a place that can keep you safe from the present,” Matt says, “… a place that your imagination can make as pretty as the two-dimensional flats of the Seventeen sets.”

Mallon’s writing is as beautiful as the most gorgeous stage sets, yet there’s nothing safe or emptily nostalgic about his rendering of the past.

The police procedural aspects of the novel — identifying the suspects, the trial, etc. — are not as interesting as Mallon’s depiction of the protagonists, their quirks, supporting characters and period details. But this is a minor quibble.

Reading “Up With the Sun” is like eating potato chips. Once you start, you won’t be able to stop.

‘Up With the Sun’

By Thomas Mallon c.2023, Knopf | $28 | 352 pages

sun and sand of the Delaware coast is a short drive from the DC area.

Cupid’s Undie Run

Annual fundraiser for NF research draws crowd

Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 11.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Spirited SUVs Dodge Durango, Land Rover Defender 130 hit the mark

By JOE PHILLIPS

While many EVs are fun, eco-friendly and increasingly affordable, it’s sometimes hard to resist the siren call of a captivating ride with an old-school combustion engine. For me, this includes the Dodge Durango R/T and Land Rover Defender 130—two midsize SUVs that really get my motor running.

DODGE DURANGO

$41,000

MPG: 19 city/26 highway

0 to 60 mph: 7.4 seconds

A vehicle for soccer moms and dads? Pfft, not anymore.

LAND ROVER DEFENDER 130

$68,000

MPG: 17 city/21 highway

0 to 60 mph: 7.4 seconds

First produced 25 years ago, the Dodge Durango was a stand-in for anyone who eschewed minivans but still needed a workaday vehicle for hauling kiddos and soccer gear. In other words, you wouldn’t see Billy Porter as Fab G in “Cinderella” ditching his glittery-orange Maybach for a Durango.

Or would you? Thanks to various updates, today’s Durango is fancier, ftter and faster than ever—especially in the higher trim levels. I test drove the RT version, which is a few steps above the mid-range GT and comes with a magical V8. Zipping from 0 to 60 mph in just 6.2 seconds was a thrill, though the less-thirsty V6 is fne for everyday commutes. And until it is discontinued at year-end, the super-fast SRT Hellcat model—costing an eye-popping $104,000—allows speed jockeys to hit 60 mph in just 3.6 seconds.

What I like most about all Durangos is how nimbly these brawny-looking haulers handle weaving in and out of traffc. Not as slick as a true sport sedan perhaps, but still. And even though there are plenty of all-new and radically redesigned SUVs, the basic functionality in the Durango is impressive: User-friendly infotainment system, acres of second-row legroom, and more stowage and towing capacity than most competitors. One downside: The amount of safety gear, while decent, is less than expected. Only a backup camera and blind-spot monitor are standard, though adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking and other driver-assistance features are available options.

Luckily, the Durango doesn’t skimp on other features. Even the base-model comes loaded: LED headlights, keyless entry/ignition, roof rails, three-zone automatic climate control, smartphone integration and more. By the time you get to the R/T, there are beefer tires and automatic high beams, as well as a sunroof, nav system, Wi-Fi hotspot and larger touchscreen. Instead of the standard six-speaker stereo, the R/T comes with a nine-speaker Alpine stereo with subwoofer. But if you really want to get the party started, then splurge on the thundering 19-speaker Harman Kardon system.

The frst Land Rovers were boxy military-inspired vehicles introduced in 1948. Four decades later, the Defender arrived on U.S. shores. By then, it looked like a wayward Jeep for second-rate safari expeditions, which wasn’t exactly a draw. The Defender soon exited American showrooms but was sold elsewhere until 2016, when it was retired from service.

Or so it seemed. In 2020, the Defender was back, rereleased with an utterly modern makeover. This latest Defender is a complement to the Land Rover Discovery, a tamer SUV with softer styling and a family-oriented vibe. While both vehicles have a renowned history of off-road prowess, only one can be alpha. That would be the Defender, with its tall ground clearance of 11.5 inches and an absurd wading depth of 35.4 inches.

Along with the standard two- and four-door models, a new long-wheelbase Defender—the 130—joins the lineup this year. That’s the vehicle I test drove for a week. Like all Defenders, it has a Jekyll and Hyde character: off-road ruggedness, but refned and limo-like when wheels hit the pavement. At 13.3 inches longer than the standard fourdoor model, this extended Defender has three rows of seating to accommodate eight passengers comfortably. Alas, with the third row up, there’s not much cargo room. But anyone stuck in the back will fnd the journey pleasant: There are USB ports, optional seat heaters, a tall roofine for decent headroom, and a separate sunroof with a manual shade.

While no V8 option is available, you can choose from two six-cylinder engines that are both mild-hybrids. Considering the Defender 130 weighs 5,500 lbs., handling is surprisingly spot on. So are all the cabin niceties, like sleek chrome trim, real wood veneer, large touchscreen, air-purifcation system, four-zone climate control, heated second- and third-row seats, privacy glass and premium Meridian sound system. As I found when driving other Land Rovers, it took me time to relearn how to operate the less-than-intuitive infotainment system and climate control dials, which also adjust the heated/ventilated seats.

But that’s a small complaint, considering how much this large Defender has to offer.

Dodge Durango

Land Rover Defender 130

Renting without a business license?

It is better to get one

By SCOTT BLOOM

In Washington D.C., owners who are renting out part or all of their residential property must obtain a Basic Business License, or “BBL.” This includes simply renting out a room in your home. The city government does not consider the rental a legal business without one. One of the main reasons, which may be obvious, is to protect occupants by ensuring that all landlords adhere to the housing code regulations and that they are providing safe and habitable dwellings. Possessing an active business license also helps landlords protect their rights and interests when dealing with their tenants, particularly if they need to go to court.

Various local companies, such as a business license “concierge” service or a residential property management company offer support to landlords to get their business license. These companies offer services to assist the property owner to do the following:

Determine if a license is required for their rental property.

By explaining to potential landlords the requirements for obtaining a BBL, homeowners can determine if the property is subject to the requirement and what type of license is needed.

Evaluate the condition of the rental.

Many companies will conduct an evaluation of the rental to be licensed and provide a report to the owner of the top things that need to be addressed in order to obtain a business license. This provides valuable information so that a property owner can increase the likelihood of passing the first city inspection and avoid delays, not to mention the city re-inspection fee.

Complete the BBL application to avoid errors.

Trying to fill out the paperwork for the three different city agencies is time-consuming, duplicative and can be confusing. Get help filling out the BBL application and all related documentation to ensure the necessary information is included. That way, you can save time when the application is submitted to the various city agencies and avoid rework.

Submit the BBL application and required documents.

Hiring a company who will submit the BBL application can save a lot of time. On the homeowner’s behalf, they will submit the documents to the various city agencies, shepherd the process through to completion and ensure the landlord receives the appropriate city documentation.

Pay the licensing fees.

Along with the required documents, the registration fee for the business license can be paid on behalf of the owner and collected later (or up-front). This helps to keep the process running smoothly as fees are submitted at the time they are needed.

Keep track of the license expiration date.

Once you obtain your business license through one of these companies you often have support to keep tabs on when the license is coming up for renewal. This is key in making sure it is renewed on time, without the need to pay hefty late fees and penalties. What are typical pitfalls that property owners should be aware of when getting and maintaining a business license in the District of Columbia?

• Not understanding the requirements for obtaining a BBL.

• Failing to complete the BBL application documents the way the city wants them

• Failing to adequately prepare the rental for the city inspection

• Failing to file required tax forms every year with the Office of Tax and Revenue

• Failing to renew the license before it expires

By partnering with experienced property management companies or business license concierge services, a landlord can have the confidence that the licensing process will go smoothly.

By ensuring you are in compliance with District laws and regulations, you will avoid many of the common problems other landlords experience. Part of that is mindset and part of it can be a real challenge if the property has deferred maintenance or is not up to housing code standards. Hiring an outside company can assist a property owner to get through the process and provide the professional support needed when it all seems overwhelming.

If you are considering renting out your space make sure it will be legal.

SCOTT BLOOM

is senior property manager and owner, Columbia Property Management. For more information and resources, go to www.ColumbiaPM.com.

If you’re renting a room in your home in D.C., be sure you have the proper license.

IN ADDITION,

BMW of Fairfax is offering special pricing for clients currently driving a BMW (or with a BMW if the same household, or within the past 12 months)

Aren’t you glad you waited? We are happy to offer these specials for any in stock vehicles that are not already spoken for, or feel free to custom order yours, and still take advantage of this special offer.

BMW ANNOUNCES $7,500 LEASE CREDIT ON FULLY ELECTRIC BMW I4 AND BMW IX 50

If you have been holding out hope for a dip in the market to grab your very own BMW electric sedan or suv, then this will be GREAT news for you. BMW just announced a $7,500 lease credit on the all NEW 2023 BMW i4 eDrive 35, and the 2023 BMW iX.

SERIES

2023 330 rear wheel drive, all wheel drive, AND HYBRID sedans

2023 530 rear wheel drive and all wheel drive sedan

2023 X3 30i

Save $2,500 and lease for as low as $596 per month

Save $5,500 and lease for as little as $744 per month

Save $3,300 and lease for as low as $622 per month

2023 X5 40i and X545e, X5 hybrid! Save $2,750 and lease for as little as $993 per month

2023 X7

Save $3,000 and lease for as little as $1,344 per month

If you are looking in the direction of the 2023 iX 50, then you can enjoy the $7,500 lease credit on this model as well and take advantage of a lease payment as low as $1,174 with just $2,023 down.

With only $2,023 down this special lease credit will allow you to lease a well optioned i4 for just $576 per month.

SPECIAL PRICING

Lease examples are based on client putting $2,023 down, plus tax, tag, processing and acquisition fee. 36 months lease, 30,000 miles allowed on the lease, 1st payment due signing, on approved credit through BMWFS at Elite tier to better.

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION

LEGAL SERVICES

ADOPTION, DONOR, SURROGACY

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And

Case No. 2023ADM000022

Nashid S. M. Saadiq aka Nashid Saddiq Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs

Minnie B. Saadiq, whose address is 1114 Trinidad Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Nashid S. M. Saadiq aka Nashid Nashiq who died on December 8, 2022 with a Will and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, NW, Building A, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001, on or before 8/3/2023. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or to the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before 8/3/23 or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.

Date of first publication: 2/3/2023

Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Probate Division

/s/Minnie B. Saadiq 1114 Trinidad Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002. 202-706-1101

MASSAGE

ROSSLYN - RELAX & RECHARGE YOURSELF. Massage in private studio located near Rosslyn, Fri-Mon, 12-8. mymassagebygary.com or text

301-704-1158

Hope to see you soon!

ANNOUNCEMENTS

WASHINGTON LATIN

PUBLIC CHARTER SCHOOL (“WL”) REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS (“RFP”) WL solicits expressions of interest in the form of proposals from qualified vendors to provide security, housekeeping, facility management, transportation engineering and planning services, or commissioning agent for our new campus.

Please contact Tom Porter at porter9979618@gmail.com with a copy to gizurieta@latinpcs.org to request the response requirements. Please reference which role you are interested in. Deadline for submission is March 3, 2023. No phone calls please.

CLEANING

FERNANDO’S CLEANING

Residential & Commercial Cleaning, Reasonable Rates, Free Estimates, Routine, 1-Time, Move-In/Move-Out 202-234-7050 / 202-486-6183

CLEANING

legal services. Jennifer represents LGBTQ clients in DC, MD & VA interested in adoption or ART matters.

240-863- 2441,  JFairfax@Jenniferfairfax.com.

LIMOUSINES

KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE

Since 1987. Gay & Veteran Owner/Operator. Lincoln Continental Sedan! Proper DC License & Livery Insured. www.KasperLivery.com. 202-554-2471

MOVERS

PROFESSIONAL MOVING & STORAGE

Let Our Movers Do The Heavy Lifting. Mention the Blade for 5% OFF of our regular rates. Call today 202.734.3080 www.aroundtownmovers.com

MEN

COUNSELING

COUNSELING FOR LGBTQ

People Individual/couple counseling with a volunteer peer counselor. GMCC, serving our community since 1973.

202-580-8661

gaymenscounseling.org.  No fees, donation requested

HANDYMAN

BRITISH REMODELING

Local licensed company with over 25 years of experience. Specializing in bathrooms, kitchens & all interior/exterior repairs. Drywall, paint, electrical & wallpaper. Trevor 703-303-8699

We’re making classi eds better for you! during this transition if you need assistance, email the text of your ad to: classifieds@washblade.com or call 202-747-2077 x 8092 & we will assist you!

LISTED ARTIST SEEKS MALE model; body type, bodybuilder or gymnast. Contact brostonjon@aol.com

BODYWORK

THE MAGIC TOUCH

Swedish, Massage or Deep Tissue. Appts. Low Rates, 24/7, In-Calls. 202-486-6183

tell them, “I saw your ad in The Blade!”