Washington Blade, Volume 54, Issue 30, July 28, 2023

‘Scaring companies to death’

DeSantis threatens legal action against Bud Light, raising fears in corporate America, PAGE 12

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Protests continue over Mont. Co. policy of ‘no opt-out’ for LGBTQ curricula

Parents file lawsuit to reverse rule; LGBTQ supporters stage counter protests

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Hundreds of parents participated in a demonstration outside the Montgomery County School Board’s office in Rockville, Md., on July 20 to protest a policy by the county’s public school system that doesn’t allow parents to opt-out their children from classes in which lessons or books on LGBTQ related topics are taught.

an English language arts curriculum that includes lessons covering LGBTQ related issues as well as other diversity related issues like race, religion, and ethnicity.

School officials point out that the LGBTQ lessons are separate from sex education classes taught in the 10th grade for which parents are allowed to opt-out their children on religious grounds or for other reasons.

The parents who want the school system to reverse the policy to allow an opt-out on LGBTQ lessons or books say these lessons infringe on their religious rights based on the U.S. Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion.

Several parents filed a lawsuit in May against the Montgomery County Public Schools, on religious rights grounds, asking a judge to issue a temporary injunction to halt the no opt-out policy by Aug. 28, when the first day of school begins for the 2023-2024 school year.

The lawsuit calls for a permanent end to the no opt-out policy that is expected to be litigated over the next year or longer.

“We are religious; we have rights as Americans,” Adon Gedie, a mother of a kindergarten student, told News 4 Washington. “Our kids have a right to be raised as a kid,” she told the TV news station.

“The books geared to younger kids are just showing a diverse range of families,” Christina Celenza, a mother of a Montgomery County student, told the TV news station. “We have a two-mom household, so my wife and I are really proud and out, and, of course, my kid in kindergarten or pre-K is going to probably talk about his family and his two moms.”

The Washington Post reported that in a court filing in response to the lawsuit, the school system said the current no opt-out policy is lawful “because it doesn’t coerce [the families] into restraining from raising their children according to their religious values or penalize their efforts to direct their children’s religious upbringing.”

The school system response, according to the Post, also points out that school district leaders met with school principals and determined that “individual schools could not accommodate the growing number of opt-out requests without causing significant disruptions.”

The protests against the no opt-out policy, as well as counter protests by LGBTQ supportive students and parents, began in March when the Montgomery County Public Schools announced it had ended a temporary opt-out allowance that it started in October.

School system officials said the no opt-out policy is for lessons and books that were part of a plan to diversify

“It should be the parents’ right,” Mark Haile, the father of three MCPS students, told News 4 Washington. “Parents should discuss with their kids to decide what they learn,” he said.

News 4 Washington also interviewed some of the counter protesters, who expressed support for the no opt-out policy, including the school system’s selection of LGBTQ related books.

Christopher Cram, a spokesperson for Montgomery County Public Schools, sent the Washington Blade a copy of the school system’s most recent statement regarding its LGBTQ related curricula and lessons. Among other things, the statement says all lessons and instructional materials “are age and developmentally appropriate” and, “There is no LGBTQ+ curriculum in elementary school.”

The statement, called Inclusive and Welcoming Learning in Montgomery County Public Schools, adds, “LGBTQ+ inclusive books benefit all students by promoting acceptance and respect and teaching them more about the diverse people and families in the world.”

D.C. bill would bar insurance discrimination against PrEP users

Legislation aimed at ‘removing barriers’ to using HIV prevention medication

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

D.C. Council member Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2) introduced a bill on June 28 calling for prohibiting insurance companies from taking into consideration a person’s use of the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP in decisions related to the issuance of disability, life, or long-term care insurance policies.

The bill, called the Removing Barriers and Reducing Stigma to Encourage HIV Prevention Amendment Act of 2023, would amend an existing D.C. law passed in 1986 that, among other things, bans insurance companies from using a person’s age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, area of residence, occupation, or similar factors to predict whether the person in the future may develop AIDS.

A statement released by Pinto’s office says her bill is intended to “ensure individuals are not dissuaded from using PrEP because of potential negative consequences on their disability, life, or long-term care insurance” and to curtail stigma associated with PrEP use.

“PrEP is a safe, reliable, and crucial medication to prevent the contraction of HIV,” Pinto said in the statement. “We need to be promoting its use – not discriminating against people, including LGBTQQIA+ and people of color who are disproportionately affected by HIV, who

use this important medication,” Pinto says in the statement.

Nine other Council members on the 13-member Council signed on as co-introducers of the bill, including D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large).

The bill was assigned by Mendelson to the Council’s Committee on Business and Economic Development, which was expected to hold a public hearing on the bill.

Pinto’s three-page bill states, “No life, disability income, or long-term care insurance policy or contract shall contain any exclusion, reduction, or other limitation of benefits related to the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis [PrEP] when taken pursuant to a valid prescriber’s order.”

The bill also states, “In reviewing an application for life, disability income, or long-term care insurance, no insurer, or agent, broker, or employee of the insurer shall factor the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis when taken pursuant to a valid prescriber’s order into a decision regarding: (1) whether to issue, renew, or cancel a policy; (2) the rates, premiums, dues, assessments, benefits covered, or expenses reimbursable under the policy; or (3) the duration or terms of the policy.”

“I am proud to introduce this legislation to advance public health, reduce stigmas associated with PrEP and HIV, and protect the rights of PrEP users,” Pinto said.

The bill calls for imposing a fine of “not less than $1,000, and not more than $10,000 for each violation” of the proposed law.

(Bigstock photo)

D.C. Council member BROOKE PINTO (D-Ward 2) (Photo courtesy Pinto Campaign)

Beloved D.C. bartender Brooks Davis dies at 29

Brooks Davis, a D.C. resident since 2018 who worked for the luxury retail outlet Louis Vuitton and later operated his own exotic plant business before becoming a bartender at the D.C. gay nightclub Bunker, died on July 17 at the age of 29.

Family members have asked that the cause of death remain private.

“Brooks brought tremendous joy and light to everyone’s lives, and we are heartbroken that he left us too soon,” a Facebook message posted by his friends says.

Larry Richardson, Davis’s husband, said Davis was born and raised in Austin, Texas, and graduated from Austin’s West Lake High School.

“And then just after graduating from high school he started working in luxury retail, which was his passion,” Richardson said. “So, he worked at Louis Vuitton in Austin and then transferred and did the same thing here in D.C.,” Richardson told the Blade, noting that Davis moved to D.C. in 2018.

“And he pretty much stayed in luxury retail and then during the pandemic he started his own exotic plant business,” Richardson recounted. “And then after the pandemic peaked, he went back to luxury retail and then

transitioned to becoming a bartender at Bunker.”

Richardson was referring to the D.C. gay nightclub Bunker, which opened in February of this year as a dance club and a venue for drag shows located at 2001 14th St., N.W. Davis began as a bartender at Bunker at the time of its opening, according to Richardson.

“He was always self-motivated to teach himself new skills,” said Richardson. “So, he actually taught himself how to be a bartender.”

According to comments posted on social media, Davis became a beloved figure at Bunker among its many patrons.

“We were going to celebrate his 30th birthday with a sailing trip to the British Virgin Islands, which he loved,” said Richardson, which would have taken place in February 2024.

“Brooks had the biggest heart of anybody that I knew,” Richardson recounted when asked what he remembers about his husband. “And he always gave all of his emotional strength and energy to his friends and family.”

Davis is survived by his husband, Larry Richardson; his parents, Stacy and Kevin Davis; his brother, Todd Davis; many friends; and his and his husband’s beloved rescue

Michele ‘Mickie’ Ballotta dies at 67

Michele Judith Ballotta, affectionately known as Mickie, passed away on June 24 at age 67 in Seaford, Md. She spent decades working on behalf of causes she embraced, including the fight against breast cancer.

After earning her bachelor’s degree at Trinity’s women’s college and spending a year in London, Ballotta worked at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf at Gallaudet University, the Human Rights Campaign, the Whitman-Walker Clinic, Food and Friends, the Breast Cancer 3-Day, and the Children’s Law Center, according to a statement from family and friends.

In her professional endeavors, Ballotta fought for human rights, provided essential healthcare services, supported breast cancer research, and advocated for children in need. Her dedication and hard work touched the lives of many, leaving a lasting impact on the communi-

Comings & Goings

ties she served, the statement says.

“Mickie will be remembered for her selflessness, compassion, humor, and unwavering commitment to making the world a better place,” the statement says. “She will be dearly missed by all those who had the privilege of knowing her. … Mickie made a significant impact on our world through decades of raising much-needed funds.”

She is survived by her sister Cookie M. Bowman, childhood and lifelong friend Joseph Peacock, and loyal companion Fred, as well as her chosen family of dedicated friends. Her love for animals was evident, and she especially adored her dogs. Ballotta’s kindness extended beyond her furry friends, as she dedicated her career to various organizations. A get together to honor her life and contributions will be scheduled at a later date. Donations can be made to House with a Heart, Senior Pet Sanctuary,

Carlos Noel honored with Lord Botetourt Medal from William & Mary

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Congratulations to Carlos Noel on receiving the Lord Botetourt Medal from William & Mary College. The Lord Botetourt Medal is presented each year to the undergraduate student who has most distinguished him or herself in scholarship during their time at William & Mary. Noel was recognized for his scholarship as well as his humility, character, empathy, and commitment to inclusion. In the words of an adviser, “Carlos is a rare gem who the academy or the world only has the chance to engage with once in a lifetime.”

This honor is just one of a host of honors Noel has received. Noel diligently pursued research at William & Mary, earning recognition by the Barry Goldwater Schol-

arship, one of the most prestigious national undergraduate scholarships in natural sciences, engineering, and mathematics. He gave a poster presentation at the American Society of Biochemistry 2023 Annual Meeting and is the first to investigate N2a neuronal cells in the lab of Professor Shantá Hinton, enhancing her research programs as well as contributing to understanding neurological disorders such as dementia.

In addition to a perfect GPA, Noel has received a plethora of scholarships. He is a Murray 1693 Scholar, Monroe Scholar and WMSURE Scholar. As part of the REACH Undergraduate Research Program, he worked with Dr. Vanessa B. Shepard at VCU Medical School on research focusing on hypertension in Black breast cancer survivors. Noel is also a Hulon Willis Memorial Scholar, Virginia Space Grant Consortium STEM Bridge Scholar, and Phi Beta Kappa inductee. Recently, he was named the Albert and Phyllis Cornell Pre-Medical Awardee. This award, established in honor of the late Dr. Albert Cornell

huskies Tailz, Pfieffer, and Wally.

A Celebration of Life for Davis for family and close friends was scheduled to be held Sunday, Aug. 6, from 6:30-9 p.m. at Bunker nightclub. Joe Devito, a Bunker employee, and close friend of Davis released a statement saying others who knew Davis along with the general public could join the commemoration at 9 p.m., when Bunker will open its doors to the public.

housewithaheart.com or your favorite charity. FROM STAFF REPORTS

’30 is made annually to two graduating senior premedical students who show great promise to become outstanding physicians.

Noel co-founded the W&M chapter of MindVersity, an organization focused on mental health, and has advocated for policies that relieve academic stress. He was a music director for the Gentlemen of the College, and a member of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

In addition to all this Carlos was accepted into many prestigious medical schools, including being offered a full scholarship to Vanderbilt University Medical School, and a 90% (the highest provided) scholarship to Harvard University Medical School, which he will attend.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

MICHELE ‘MICKIE’ BALLOTTA

CARLOS NOEL

BROOKS DAVIS

As Calvert joins GOP attacks on LGBT centers, Rollins

is ready to take his seat

Gay challenger says California deserves better representation in Congress

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com

Will Rollins, the gay Democrat vying for a second chance to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert (Calif.), spoke with the Washington Blade by phone last week following the uproar over his opponent’s support for an anti-LGBTQ amendment to a spending bill that was advanced by conservative members of the House Appropriations Committee.

The Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Subcommittee’s package contained a total of 2,680 Community Project Funding earmarks, all previously cleared by members from both parties, but just before its passage on Tuesday Calvert joined his Republican colleagues who removed funding for two LGBTQ centers in Pennsylvania and one in Massachusetts.

The decision to go after three CPF initiatives that provide housing and other support for LGBTQ people in need, none located in his district or state, was “pretty consistent” with Calvert’s “pattern of bigoted behavior towards the LGBTQ community,” Rollins said.

who enjoyed the advantages of the name recognition that comes with being California’s longest serving Republican member in that chamber.

In 2024, “we have enough support to flip the seat,” Rollins said — noting that the campaign now has 17 months to build awareness about his candidacy before voters cast their ballots, including by tapping into media markets that were prohibitively expensive in 2022.

Rollins told the Blade Calvert has a “fundamental misunderstanding of LGBTQ Americans” and is uninterested in learning about their lived experiences as sexual and gender minorities, as evidenced by his allyship with the GOP members whose move during last week’s THUD markup provoked accusations by Democrats of rank anti-LGBTQ bigotry, igniting exchanges between lawmakers that became so heated the committee was forced to recess three times.

At one point, out Democratic U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (Wisc.), who chairs the Congressional Equality Caucus and serves on the Appropriations Committee, advised Calvert that he would be wise to vote against his party’s anti-LGBTQ amendment lest he be looking for a path to retirement courtesy of the more diverse constituents he now represents.

Last month, Calvert, who chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, was criticized after passing an amendment to a military spending bill that, among other provisions, proscribes “any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially, on the basis that such person speaks, or acts, in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief, or moral conviction, that marriage is, or should be recognized as, a union of one man and one woman.”

In practice, Democrats on the committee argued, this could provide a pathway for someone who is responsible for the disbursement of survivor benefits to deny them to gay and lesbian beneficiaries.

premises that these Republicans are operating from are complete lies.” And while elected Republicans “definitely have some serious problems with the truth,” Rollins said “the good news for me in a purple district is that regular Republican voters,” many of whom are actually moderate, will stand up against extremism.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which works to elect Democrats to the House, echoed some of these arguments in a statement to the Blade: “Ken Calvert is determined to turn back the clock on LGTBQ+ rights.”

“Calvert’s bigoted pattern of anti-LGBTQ+ extremism is disqualifying, disgusting, and wildly out of step with the values and beliefs of everyday southern Californians,” the group said.

Rollins said that contrary to Calvert’s claims last year that his thinking on LGBTQ rights had evolved, the congressman is “willing to take calculated votes to keep himself in power, which he did before the [2022] midterms” by voting for the Respect for Marriage Act — a move Rollins characterized as “a pretty transparent attempt to wash away an anti-LGBTQ career that’s lasted three decades.”

Speaking to the Blade by phone on Thursday, gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), who serves as ranking member of the U.S. House Veterans’ Affairs Committee and a co-chair of the Equality Caucus, said Calvert’s tendency to vacillate between whichever positions are most politically expedient has been on display throughout his 30-year tenure in the House.

The two ran against each other in 1992 and 1994, with Calvert winning both races, and they have served together in California’s congressional delegation since Takano first took office in 2013.

A former federal prosecutor who worked in counterterrorism and counterintelligence and was involved in the Justice Department’s pursuit of charges against participants in the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Rollins is set to square off against two other candidates in his party’s primary ahead of the November 2024 elections. According to Cook Political Report, new data shows Calvert’s seat has moved from red-leaning to a tossup.

Calvert has served in the House since 1993, representing California’s 41st Congressional District for less than a year since it was redrawn in 2022 to include more Democratic and LGBTQ constituents, many residing in the Palm Springs area. Rollins challenged him in last year’s midterm elections, decisively beating primary opponents but ultimately falling short in his gambit for Calvert’s seat by about 11,000 votes.

Reflecting on the 2022 race, Rollins noted that while “the turnout was relatively low, I was the only Democratic challenger in California to win independent voters and had the best performance of any Democratic challenger” in California as measured against the share of votes in the state for President Joe Biden in 2020.

As a first-time candidate with only five months between his Democratic primary and the general election, Rollins added, he had nearly unseated a member of the House

Showing voters the contrast between Calvert’s extreme positions on matters like LGBTQ rights proved successful in courting more support for his campaign last year, Rollins said, but these issues are galvanizing not just for LGBTQ communities and their straight allies in bluer areas like Palm Springs.

“Study after study has shown that where you discriminate against the LGBTQ community, whether it’s anti-gay laws in Georgia or anti-LGBT rules overseas, economic output decreases,” stunting small business growth and depressing wages, he said.

So, Rollins said, while it is difficult to conceive of an alternative explanation, let alone a benign one, for the actions this week by Calvert and his fellow ultraconservative subcommittee members, “we also have to be making the argument that the attacks on us really are an attack collectively on our economic growth and on opportunity and equality.”

“When you’ve got a party that is prioritizing making sure that gay seniors can’t get food when they need it, versus a party that wants to make our streets safer, or a candidate who wants to raise wages in Riverside County,” Rollins said, regardless of their political affiliation “voters understand that those priorities are misdirected from the far right.”

Additionally, he said, “part of the job, too, has to be changing the terms of the debate because a lot of the

Takano said that when Calvert faced off against six opponents in 1992 and ultimately beat him in the general election by fewer than 600 votes, the Republican candidate had “assured key women in the community that he would moderate on social issues like abortion.”

By contrast, Takano said, today “the reality is he cannot survive a Republican primary” without embracing far-right positions, particularly on social issues. Because the GOP has become more extreme since 1992, Takano said, “for [Calvert] to stay in politics, he has to be representative of that extremism.”

The California Democrat contrasted the act of political bravery, and by an elected Republican with unambiguously conservative bona fides, with Calvert — a politician who made a “Faustian bargain” selling his soul to stay in Congress.

“Mark Sanford and I disagreed on a lot of stuff,” Takano said, referring to the Republican former politician who served as governor of South Carolina and represented the state’s 1st Congressional District in the U.S. House from 2013 to 2019.

Takano recalled how Sanford came to the defense of “Hamilton” creator Lin Manuel Miranda when then-President Donald Trump attacked the Broadway star — “punching down at a citizen” — because Miranda had “made this appeal to Mike Pence to remember that he was vice president for all of America.”

“From that moment on, Mark Sanford was on the pathway to lose his primary,” Takano said. Continues at washingtonblade.com.

WILL ROLLINS (right) with partner PAOLO BENVENUTO (Photo courtesy Will Rollins for Congress)

DeSantis eyes lawsuit over Bud Light’s deal with trans influencer

Legal experts skeptical; move labeled political stunt

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com

As sales continue to slump after months of conservative backlash against Bud Light’s social media spot with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced he will explore a potential lawsuit against the beer brand’s parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“It appears to me that AB InBev may have breached legal duties owed to its shareholders,” DeSantis said in a letter shared on Twitter Friday outlining possible grounds for legal action on behalf of the shareholders of Florida’s pension funds.

Columbia University Law School Professor John Coffee, however, told the Washington Blade a legal doctrine called the business judgment rule “fully protects the board of Anheuser-Busch InBev from any liability for breach of fiduciary duty that might be asserted by Florida’s pension funds in a derivative suit.”

Caselaw directs courts to uphold decisions by company directors provided they are made in good faith, with the care expected of a reasonably prudent person, and with the reasonable belief that they were acting in the corporation’s best interests.

Multinational drink conglomerate AB InBev suffered financially as a result of Bud Light’s promotion with Mulvaney, with sales for the brand down 25 percent from last year according to market research data reported by CNBC.

“No doubt, Anheuser-Busch lost money because of the populist reaction to the use of a transgender ‘influencer,’ but that is not the standard for liability,” said Coffee, who is recognized as one of the country’s leading experts in securities law, corporate governance, white collar crime, complex litigation, and class actions.

Directors “were seeking to promote their product with a new audience, and it backfired, but that is not a breach of duty,” he said, adding, “Management has the legal right to innovate and try new tactics.”

Andrew Isen, founder and president of WinMark Concepts, agreed, telling the Blade, “Bud Light is an entry beer because of the price point,” so it made sense for the beer maker to target the younger demographics who comprise the influencer’s sizable online following.

“No one foresaw this backlash,” he said.

“They’re making business decisions, they’re making marketing decisions, to grow their business, and that’s what their responsibilities to their shareholders are,” said Isen, whose clients are mostly large publicly traded corporations.

Additionally, he said, partnering with an LGBTQ public figure like Mulvaney makes sense from a market research perspective.

For instance, Isen pointed to data from management consulting firm McKinsey & Co., which found that “for five years, our research has shown a positive, statistically significant correlation between company financial outperformance and diversity, on the dimensions of both gender and ethnicity.”

Coffee, who has repeatedly been listed among The 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America and topped rankings of the most-cited scholars in corporate and business law, told the Blade he is not aware of any previous cases in which a firm’s marketing or advertising decision provided grounds for shareholder litigation for breach of fiduciary duty in a derivative suit.

“I do not know if litigation will be brought,” he said, adding, “this sounds more like a political stunt.”

If DeSantis’s probe leads to an actual complaint on behalf of shareholders, Coffee said, “I would not expect it to survive a motion to dismiss in Delaware,” if AB InBev is headquartered in the state, where most commercial disputes are adjudicated.

“But the suit might be brought [improperly] in Florida,” Coffee said, “and anything might happen there.”

Regardless, Coffee said, “Gov. DeSantis will make no friends in the business community with these over broad attacks.”

DeSantis, addressing shareholders of his state’s pension funds, wrote in his letter on Friday that, “We must prudently manage the funds of Florida’s hardworking law enforcement officers, teachers, firefighters, and first responders in a manner that focuses on growing returns, not subsidizing an ideological agenda through woke virtue signaling.”

AB InBev is just the latest target of the governor’s crusade against “wokeism” in corporate America, a battle that his party is increasingly waging against companies’ environmental and social governance policies, their diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, and their criticism of conservative policies or policymakers.

Firms like Blackstone had come to understand concepts like responsible environmental stewardship and diversity in corporate boards of directors as intrinsic values that are good for business and “integral to their shareholders,” Isen said, referring to the investment management juggernaut that boasts more than $991 billion in assets under management.

However, as these moves come under fire from various factions on the right — intimidation by elected leaders, coordinated online attacks, incendiary coverage in partisan media — the business community is taking notice. Isen pointed to “the amount of companies that are getting rid of their diversity officers,” as reported last week in The Wall Street Journal.

This “noise,” Isen said, is “scaring companies to death.”

Other state officials have recently weaponized the power of their governments against companies over their support for the LGBTQ community. On July 5, seven Republican state attorneys general issued a letter to Target Corp. notifying the retailer that certain merchandise in its seasonal Pride collection may violate their obscenity statutes.

The popularity of DeSantis’s attacks on “woke” corporations will soon be tested as the governor heads into Republican primary races in hopes of securing his party’s nomination for the 2024 presidential election. DeSantis’s office did not respond to written questions or provide comment for this story.

Weak support for anti-LGBTQ riders on defense bills

House Republicans’ amendments to recently passed defense spending bills, including controversial anti-LGBTQ provisions, are largely unpopular according to findings from a nationwide survey of 1,254 likely voters conducted by Data for Progress.

The left-leaning think tank published the results of its poll on Tuesday, less than a week before lawmakers will return to their districts for congressional recess in August, setting up a showdown in the U.S. Senate over appropriations bills whose passage by the lower chamber’s Republican majority ignited tensions with Democratic members in recent weeks.

“Motivated by bigotry and the desire to appeal to the GOP extremist base, more than 40 anti-equality provisions across the 12 appropriations bills were passed,” U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) said in a statement on behalf of the Congressional Equality Caucus, which he chairs.

“Last week, they went even further and cut millions of dollars in funding for member’s community projects that would have tackled LGBTQI+ homelessness and housing insecurity,” the congressman, who also serves on the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the Committee’s top Democrat and a member of the Equality Caucus, noted that appropriations bills “are statements of our priorities and our values as a country.”

“To that end, the majority has shown they have no values, and no priorities, and are solely focused on how to appease their most extreme caucus members, to greenlight discrimination and impose second-class status on LGBTQ+ Americans, and to defund American workers, seniors, families, and veterans,” said the congresswoman.

Democrats’ majority control of the Senate, while narrow, will create a difficult path for passage of the 40 anti-LGBTQ

provisions House Republicans have attached to the 12 separate spending bills, along with other GOP amendments such as those restricting reproductive rights and diversity initiatives.

With respect to riders targeting the LGBTQ community in the National Defense Authorization Act, which passed the House last week, the Data for Progress poll found 60 percent of respondents “agree that anti-LGBTQ+ measures should not be included in bills focused on military spending” while 63 percent said transgender service members should have access to medically necessary healthcare.

A majority of likely voters, 51 percent, objected to language prohibiting military reimbursements for service members to obtain out-of-state abortions, expenses that are currently covered under existing policy at the U.S. Department of Defense.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS (Screen capture/CNN)

Trans, gender diverse rights deteriorating rapidly in Russia

Lawmakers seek final approval to gender transition ban

By BRODY LEVESQUE

In a scene eerily reminiscent of a 1960s cold war era novel, the young woman sat nervously at the outside table of the café not far from the museum district and main railroad station in St. Petersburg, chain smoking French Gitanes and toying with the food on her plate in front of her. She kept nervously glancing around as if she expected to suddenly be swept up in a secret police raid.

The primary cause of her anxiety and discomfiture she explained to the journalist sitting across the table from her, was that as a transgender woman, she felt threatened and afraid. Unable to continue to live in her native region in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, [region] in the Ural mountains she had moved first to the Russian capital of Moscow. Then as tensions rose over the treatment of LGBTQ Russians she fled to St. Petersburg.

“There is no safety anymore, soon they will openly hunt us like swine, we no right to exist they say,” she told Russian freelance journalist Sergei Dimitrov.

The young woman who only identified herself to Dimitrov by the name Elena said that since the latest passage of laws including expansion of the Russia’s “gay propaganda” law to include adults last December, coupled with the crackdown by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media, abbreviated as Roskomnadzor, on any websites and on popular phone apps that cater to LGBTQ people, she has now begun efforts in earnest to leave the country.

Last week the lower house of the Russian Parliament, colloquially referred to as the State Duma, passed on its final reading a bill that would outlaw gender transitioning procedures in Russia. The measure now heads to the Federation Council, or upper House where it is expected to pass in the scheduled vote on Tuesday and then transmitted to Russian President Vladimir Putin for his approval and signature which is expected.

State Duma [Parliament] Deputy Speaker Pytor Tolstoy, a co-sponsor of the legislation, pointed out that banning the “practice of transgenderism” was in the interest of national security.

The diagnosis of “transsexualism,” he added, refers to gender identity disorders and is the basis for recognizing a citizen as unfit for military service. In addition, “we must not forget that by changing the sex of one of the partners, a homosexual couple gets the right to adopt a child. Unfortunately, there are already such cases in Russia,” he said.

The proposed law would bar Russians from changing their gender on official government identity documents including internal and external passports, driver’s licenses, and birth certificates, although gender marker changes had been legal for 26 years since 1997.

Medical healthcare providers would be banned from “performing medical interventions designed to change the sex of a person,” including surgery and prescribing hormone therapy.

In a floor speech prior to the vote last month after the measure’s first reading, Tolstoy blamed the West for what he deemed a profitable medical industry:

“The Western transgender industry is trying in this way to seep into our country, to break through a window for its multi-billion dollar business,” Tolstoy said. Then he claimed there is already a developed network of clinics in Russia, “it includes trans-friendly doctors and psychol-

ogists, and all this operates with the active support of LGBT organizations. However, in the past six months they have changed their names to more, perhaps harmless ones,” he said inferring that the recent expansion of the country’s law banning LGBTQ propaganda was somehow responsible for those changes.

sary burdens on trans people, forcing them to disclose their private and medical history and exposing them to discrimination, harassment and violence.”

According to Dimitrov, that particular provision of the legislation is specifically applicable to Elena, who while having completed transition-related surgery has been unable to get the gender marker changed on her documents, which with the current war in Ukraine has further complicated her life.

She told Dimitrov that demands for her to present herself for required military service, under her former name and gender, was yet another reason she had fled. Now she says, she is trapped and unable to legally leave, entertaining the option of illegally entering the EU and asking for asylum, most likely to neighboring Latvia, or Estonia.

Independent news outlet Mediazona reported in February 2023 that the number of passports issued due to “gender change” has more than doubled in 2022 compared with two years earlier — from 428 in 2020 to 936 last year, according to Russia’s Interior Ministry.

In justifying the provision, lawmakers cited concerns that men are using the relatively simple procedure of changing gender in official documents to dodge the military draft.

According to Tolstoy, gender reassignment surgery is “a very profitable area of medical services. And it’s understandable why a number of doctors defend this area so fiercely, hiding behind academic knowledge, including those obtained abroad while studying in the United States and other countries,” he said, “running into” Western medical education.

Provisions to the bill in its second reading, approved on Thursday, also ban trans people from adopting or fostering children, and force them to annul their marriages if one of the couple subsequently changes gender.

LGBTQ and human rights organization ILGA-Europe issued a statement condemning the actions of the Russian Duma and offered support and solidarity with the Russian trans and queer communities.

“We firmly assert that such legislation flagrantly violates fundamental human rights standards and principles.

ILGA-Europe firmly believe in the inherent dignity and equal rights of all individuals, regardless of their gender identity or expression. International human rights standards, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, emphasize that everyone has the right to self-determination, privacy, and the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Denying trans and gender diverse individuals access to trans-specific healthcare and legal gender recognition blatantly disregards the international human rights framework,” ILGA-Europe wrote.

Sympathetic physicians and trans rights advocates have warned that the ban is poised to create a black market for hormone substitutes, some of which likely will be dangerous and lead to an increase in attempted suicides among trans youth unable to access medical care.

ILGA-Europe’s statement also warned: “Furthermore, the bill invalidates all certificates of legal gender recognition for individuals who have undergone transition-related surgery but not yet changed the gender marker in their passport. This is a violation of their right to privacy, places trans people in legal limbo, and creates unneces-

Another point was raised by a lawmaker who asked what to do with 3,000-plus trans people who have already managed to change their gender and documents. Tolstoy responded noted that the law does not have retroactive effect.

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin called gender transitioning “pure satanism.”

Akram Kubanychbekov, a senior advocacy officer for ILGA-Europe, this past week sent out a “dear colleagues” request for assistance detailing specific needs and actions that will be crucial to assisting trans and gender diverse Russians.

Kubanychbekov wrote: “Discrimination, violence and the enactment of oppressive laws have made it increasingly unsafe for trans people to live their lives authentically and without fear. In light of these circumstances, we have reached out local trans organizations to ask them of support trans community need at the moment.

“To address the urgent needs of trans people who wish to leave Russia, there is a need in facilitating support for broadening the criteria for humanitarian visas. By expanding the eligibility criteria, we can ensure that those facing persecution and threats to their safety have a viable pathway to seek refuge in other countries. It is crucial to work together to advocate for this change with governments at the national level to extend our support to trans people seeking a safer environment in safer countries.

“In addition to humanitarian visas, trans organizations [inside Russia] asked to assist in securing multi-entry, long-term (preferably Schengen) visas for activists, who will continue their important work within Russia but may need to swiftly leave in case of escalating danger. By facilitating the necessary visa support, activists are enabled to carry out their vital work with the knowledge that they have an emergency exit if required.

“We would like to encourage you to stand in solidarity with the local trans organizations in Russia and support their requests.”

Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN signs legislation last spring. (Photo courtesy of the Office of the President/Russian government)

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DIEDRE GRAY

is director of THI at the Rainbow History Project. Reach Gray at diedre@rainbowhistory.org.

Trans History Initiative: It’s about damn time

New project highlights local trans, nonbinary community members

It’s been said many times “this trans thing is just so new!” The reality is that trans and nonbinary folx have walked the Earth in every culture since the beginning of time–both visibly and discreetly. Sometimes referred to as: eunuch, mukhannathun, two-spirit, transexual or, in our modern terms, transgender, trans and nonbinary folx are found in the Bible, the Qur’an, as well as ancient Chinese texts and Indigenous cultures. Then why isn’t that history better known?

There are a great many national and international trans and nonbinary people in world history. Here at the local level, since its founding in 2000, the Rainbow History Project has been documenting them as part of its work to collect, preserve and promote the history and culture of diverse LGBTQ communities. Now, through a grant from the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, RHP created the Trans History Initiative to further highlight local amazing trans and nonbinary community members throughout metropolitan D.C.

Some of the history makers include people like Miss Earline Budd. Her activism for transgender folx goes back to the early 1980s. She has fought against discrimination in D.C. and has been instrumental in providing support by working through her own non-profits T.H.E.(Transgender Health Empowerment, Inc) and E.T.C. (Empowering The Community) in addition to being a staple of leadership and support at HIPS.

Activist Patti Shaw sued D.C. Police and the U.S. Marshals for her mistreatment after being arrested in 2009 and placed with male prisoners. She won her settlement that changed how gender is reported in the Police Department Identification (PDID) system.

In 1995, Tyra Hunter was denied care by D.C.’s EMS personnel after being hurt in a car accident. Her death resulted in a lengthy lawsuit against the D.C. government that resulted in the Tyra Hunter Human Diversity Training Series as required training for D.C. Fire and EMS personnel.

Of course, many of our elders such as SaVanna Wanzer, Dee Curry and Rayceen Pendarvis paved the way for future generations to be heard, fight for themselves and have a better lived experience than the one they grew up in. Some other trailblazers include: Cecilia Llanos-Astete, the first openly trans Latina hired by the D.C. Department of Health. Tyler Edge, the first trans man to serve as Associate Director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. Bonnie Davenport became the first trans person to serve in MPD. Ruby Corado, who founded Casa Ruby to provide shelter and housing for trans youth for more than a decade. The legendary first lady of D.C., Miss Ella Fitzgerald. Actress Monroe Alise, who was featured on the hit show, “P-Valley.” Katherine Goforth was recently announced as the inaugural recipient of Washington National Opera’s True Voice Award. Kye Allums became the first trans man to play basketball at George Washington University.

In addition, just some of our gender diverse family community leaders include folx such as Xemiyulu Manibusan Tapepechul, Two-Spirit and nonbinary actor, writer, director, producer, and artist; Tẹmídayọ Amay. Of course the story of trans and nonbinary folx in the DMV would be incomplete if the violence and murders of trans and nonbinary folx, especially Black trans women, were not yelled from the mountain tops. Over the years there have been hundreds, even thousands from this community assaulted and/ or murdered. Unfortunately, most of the cases remain unsolved. Zoe Spears and Ashanti Carmon were murdered just a few months apart in 2019. And, earlier this calendar year, Jazmine “Starr” Parker was murdered. However, this brief list reflects just some of those beautiful souls taken from our family, too soon.

Our history is a complex and beautiful tapestry of bright, loud colors and soft, quiet breezes. Fiery rebellion and sullen memorials. Passionate protests and chosen family. We are not monolithic. Rather, the same diversity that exists in all of humankind definitely lives within our community. Because of the relationship that RHP is building with the transgender community, our stories and experiences will be preserved for future generations to experience our rich history throughout the DMV.

Even though our differences reflect the individuality of each community member, being on our “gender-journey” continually unites and binds us together as family. We were here from the beginning and we will not be erased.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Astronaut, architect, CEO: As times changed, so did Barbie

Love her or hate her, Mattel’s iconic doll will outlive us all

It makes you wonder about the state of things when the blockbuster movie of the summer is about a doll. “Barbie” has beaten out Tom Cruise’s latest “Mission Impossible” movie, and Harrison Ford’s 80-year-old version of Indiana Jones, with the biggest opening of the year. Maybe that can be explained knowing Barbie is only 64. She could sing to the world the Beatles verse, “Will you still love me when I’m 64?” and the answer seems to be a resounding, “YES!”

I never played with dolls as a child so that wasn’t a manifestation at the time of my being gay. I had other indications like doing flower arranging. I won a blue ribbon for one arrangement and did window displays for local stores. But I knew about Barbie. Now as I move toward my dotage, I have a good friend who owns two bars called Freddie’s, one in Virginia, and one in Rehoboth Beach, and he is infatuated with Barbie. I also enjoy photographing the ‘Barbie House’ on Q Street in Dupont Circle, which has various entertaining displays of Barbie dolls in the yard, depicting the issues of the day.

When Barbie was introduced by Mattel in 1959, girls loved her, and they all wanted her. She came with beautiful clothes, long blond hair, and a perfect figure. You could get all kinds of accessories for her from jewelry, clothing, even a Barbie kitchen. Clearly young girls at the time were expected to learn to cook. It was the end of the 1950s and that was our culture.

But as our society’s norms changed, so did Barbie. She was an astronaut, an architect, and a CEO. In 1961, Mattel introduced the world to Ken, Barbie’s boyfriend. You could get Ken with either blond or dark hair, and he wore a red bathing suit showing off his perfect plastic body, just lacking genitals. Outfits for him included a tuxedo. Things went along fine for Barbie and Ken for years. Barbie seemed to treat Ken as an accessory, like a new fur, or a bracelet. I always thought of the two of them like the perfect children of a TV couple like Ozzie and Harriet Nelson. Bland and pretty. But then my dreams, as a totally closeted boy at the time, were not about Barbie or Ken, but rather of the Nelson’s real younger son, Ricky. Mattel kept up with the times and the fight for civil rights by introducing Christie, a doll of color, as Barbie’s friend in the later ‘60s

In 1993, Mattel issued a new version of Ken: Earring Magic Ken. Ken was now wearing a mesh shirt, exposing his abs. He had an earring and necklace. Years later Katie Dupere would write in her column, “The true story of Mattel accidentally releasing a super gay Ken doll,” “After the doll’s 1993 release, activist and writer Dan Savage, who at the time was working for queer-focused newspaper The Stranger, wrote a piece about  the doll’s decidedly “gay” look. In the story, Savage particularly focused on the doll’s necklace, a circular chrome pendant hanging from a silver chain. Savage wrote that the necklace “is what ten out of ten people in-the-know will tell you at a glance is a c*** ring.”

Barbie and Ken and their friends changed with the times. Barbie and Ken never married; just stayed boyfriend and girlfriend for 43 years. Then the day before Valentine’s Day 2004, Mattel began a large-scale publicity promotion by issuing a press release telling the world Barbie and Ken were breaking up. This was national news, covered among other places by the “Today” show. Then at Toy Fair 2004, Mattel introduced Blaine, a boogie boarding Australian hottie who they said was now dating Barbie. One thing Barbie has never done is have children. I see her as the precursor to Sarah Jessica Parker’s character in “Sex And the City.”

In interviews about the movie, Margot Robbie, who plays Barbie, tells Ryan Gosling, Ken, she is moving on from him being merely an accessory, which is what Mattel introduced him as. You could buy a Barbie mink stole, a new Barbie dress, a Barbie bracelet, a Barbie oven, or Ken. Totally interchangeable.

With this movie, whether you love or hate Barbie, you can be assured she will outlive you, especially if you are a man. Mattel has sold more than 1 billion Barbies and we can be confident that future generations will continue to add to Mattel’s bottom line as we wait to see where Barbie goes next.

Queer literary lion Edmund White not slowing down at age 83

New novel ‘Humble Lover’ features sex, unrequited passion, and ballet

By KATHI WOLFE

“It’s remarkable,” Edmund White, the acclaimed queer novelist memoirist, playwright, biographer and essayist, told the Blade this summer in a telephone interview, “I’m 83 years old! A lot of people my age would give up.”

“Not me,” he added, “I still feel sharp.” White, born in 1940, is more than as good as his word. At a time of life when many rest on their laurels, he has not only published his latest novel, “The Humble Lover,” (Bloomsbury), but is working on new literary projects.

Don’t be fooled by White’s age. “The Humble Lover” is no sleepy, “octogenarian” novel. Yes, its protagonist, Aldwych West, who’s desperately in love with 20-yearold August Dupond, a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, sleeps. But that’s all “The Humble Lover” has in common with staid novels for “the elderly.” The novel features lots of sex, unrequited passion, ballet, Champagne, and Ernestine, a dominatrix, who makes Joan Crawford or Bette Davis at their bitchiest seem tame. August doesn’t return Aldwych’s affections. In an effort to spike August’s interest, Aldwych, who’s incredibly wealthy, creates a ballet company so August can have his own ballet troupe to star in. Poor Aldwych! August still doesn’t lust for him. Instead, he hooks up with Padro, a sex worker, and Ernestine, who’s married to his investment banker nephew Bryce. It’s deliciously wicked.

“Why don’t they have more gay villains,” White said, “I liked writing Ernestine. She’s a real bitch!”

“The Humble Lover” is one of the more than 30 novels that White has written. To say that White, who grew up in Evanston, Ill., has had a creative and productive life is an understatement.

White, who lives in New York, was a co-founder of the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and of the 1980s queer writers group The Violet Quill. In addition to his many novels, he has written memoirs, essay collections, book reviews as well as biographies of Rimbaud, Genet, and Proust. White wrote a novel (unpublished) when he was a teen at Cranbrook School, a boarding school in Broomfield Hills, Mich.

White has received more honors than you could imagine. His many awards include the PEN/Saul Bellow Award for Career Achievement in American Fiction and Lambda Literary’s Visionary Award.

The National Book Foundation presented White with the 2019 Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. “A master of narrative and craft across fiction, journalism, memoir and more,” David Steinberger, chair of the board of directors of the Foundation said of White. “Whether it’s evocative depiction of gay life during the tumultuous 1980s, painstakingly researched biography or elegant memoir, White’s work stands out across decades as its resonance … for a multitude of devoted readers.”

Along with being a legendary queer literary lion, White is professor emeritus of creative writing at Princeton. (He taught at Princeton for 19 years.) White has

been called the “godfather of gay American literature,” Princeton Alumni Weekly has reported.

In 2013, White and the writer Michael Carroll, who is 25 years younger than White, were married. White has lived much of his life in New York and Paris.

From early on, White was imaginative. As a child, White, like many writers thought up stories and had imaginary friends. “One of my imaginary friends was named Cottage Cheese,” White said.

Today, White is one of the most out, unabashedly, joyfully queer people you’d ever want to meet. “I’m working now on a sex memoir about the loves of my life,” White, who in 1977 co-wrote with Charles Silverstein, “The Joy of Gay Sex,” said.

“It’s so much more sex positive now,” he added.

But when White grew up in the Midwest in the 1940s and 1950s, there was nothing sex positive about being queer. Being gay was sinful and illegal. At best, it was believed to be a sickness. In that era, “the three most heinous things in America were heroin, communism and homosexuality,” White wrote in an essay.

White knew he was queer early on (even though he secretly perused the dictionary to find words for his feelings).

In his 2018 memoir “Unpunished Vice: A Life of Reading,“ White recounts that, when he was 12, his mother gave him a biography of Nijinsky, the queer Russian ballet dancer. “Was it just that he was an iconic artist... and she wanted to stoke my artistic fires,” he writes, “Or was it innocent compliance with a sissy streak I’d already manifested?”

When he was a teen and underage, men would come by, cruising, in their cars. He’d have sex with them. But, “I was jailbait,” White said, “they’d never meet me a second time.”

White always wanted to be a writer. “But, I knew writers can’t support themselves,” White said, “so I thought, maybe I’ll be a professor.”

At boarding school, White’s favorite teacher had studied Chinese. White decided to follow in his footsteps. In 1962, he graduated from the University of Michigan, where he studied Chinese. White was accepted into Harvard University’s doctoral program in Chinese. But he decided against entering the program. He opted to follow a lover and move to New York.

For several years, he pursued journalism. Working for Time-Life Books, freelancing for Newsweek, editing the Saturday Review and Horizon as well as freelancing for publications such as The New Republic.

White is best known for his trio of autobiographical novels: “A Boy’s Own Story,” “The Beautiful Room Is Empty” and “The Farewell Symphony.”

But not all of his fiction, especially, his most recent novels (such as “A Previous Life” and “A Saint from Texas”) are about his life.

“I got tired of writing autobiographical fiction,” White said, “I enjoy making people up.”

White talked enthusiastically about creating “The Humble Lover.” “When I was in my 20s, I had an affair with a well-known ballet dancer,” White said, “and I’ve always been fascinated by the ballet.”

His fascination with ballet and his acquaintanceship with wealthy, WASPy people helped him to imagine the characters in “The Humble Lover.”

“I had an office mate who was the ultimate WASP from a good family in New York City,” White said. “They had their own brownstone. He’d gone to Harvard. He had a way of pronouncing words that was different from anybody else.”

White, like an anthropologist, studied him. “He became the basis for Aldwych,” White said.

Part of writing for White is finding characters equivalent to people in your life. “When I worked for Vogue magazine, I met a lot of society people,” he said. “They interest me in an anthropological way.”

“I had a boyfriend who was on the best-dressed list,” White added, “these jet set people talk all the time about their schedules.”

At the same time, White thinks people spend too much time thinking about celebrities. “They’re not that interesting,” he said.

In addition to working on a memoir about sex, White is writing a new novel. The novel, White said, is based on his nephew who killed himself at age 50. “It was 10 years ago. He was hetero and lived with me for a little bit,” White said. “He was a little bit crazy. He wouldn’t stay on lithium. I was very close to him.”

“I’ve always wondered if I could find a way to do it,” White added.

Before Stonewall, queer writers would try to explain LGBTQ people to readers. “Or they would try to get compassion for gays and present us as sick in sad stories,” White said. “Or, as in Gore Vidal’s case, they’d show us as campy.”

It’s very different, today. “It’s sex positive.” White said.

Edmund White’s new book is ‘The Humble Lover.’

CALENDAR |

Friday, July 28

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Social” at 7 p.m. at Dupont Italian Kitchen. This event is ideal to make new friends in the LGBTQ community or just to unwind and enjoy extended happy hour. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Center Aging Monthly Yoga & 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 details, email adamaheller@thedccenter.org or visit the DC Center’s website.

Women in Their Twenties and Thirties will be at 8 p.m. on Zoom and in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is a social discussion group for queer women in the Washington, D.C. area and a great way to make new friends and meet other queer women in a fun and friendly setting. For more details, join WiTT’s closed Facebook group.

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

Saturday, July 29

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Brunch” at 10 a.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ+ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Saturdae Sorbae: Dating Discussion, Hors D’oeuvres & Desserts” will be at 1 p.m. at the Thurgood Marshall Center. This event is a monthly group experience for gay singles interested in healthy romantic relationships. Couples are also welcome. The event is a “pay what you want” event and proceeds will benefit scholarships for LGBTQ students at Howard University. For more details, visit Eventbrite.

Sunday, July 30

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Brunch” at 11 a.m. at Puro Gusto. This event is ideal for meeting new people in the LGBTQ Community and community building. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Improv for All! Workshop for LGBTQ+ Community & Allies” will be at 12:30 p.m. at Studio Theatre. This event is a free introductory workshop that is high-fun, low-stress and designed to show you how improvisers create spontaneous, off-the-cuff theater. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Monday, July 31

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.

“Reign: A Variety Drag Show” will be at 8 p.m. at Dupont Italian Kitchen. The event will be hosted by Logan Stone and feature performances from Dabatha Christie, Hennessey, Sirene Noir Sidora Jackson, and Anamosity. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Tuesday, August 01

BiRoundtable Discussion will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This roundtable 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.

Javier Moya will host “Gay Sip and Paint” at 7 p.m. at Green Lantern. This will be a night of painting with a live model, music, and drinks. Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Wednesday, August 02

Center Aging: Women’s Social & Discussion Group will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This group is a place where older LGBTQ+ women can meet and socialize with one another. There will be discussion, activities, and a chance to share what you want future events to include. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

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.

Thursday, August 03

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 pm the day before.

OUT & ABOUT

New England art duo to exhibit in Virginia

New England artists Caroline Rufo and John Rufo, also known as RufoArt will open an exhibition on Thursday, Aug. 10 at 6 p.m. at Nepenthe Gallery. The husband-and-wife duo will share their paintings and also talk about their inspirations. Caroline explores the natural beauty, ideas, and systems of power that create her surroundings while John works toward an understanding of art as a representation of singular moments of both immediate presence and a larger context of wholeness.

For more details, visit Nepenthe Gallery’s website.

Introducing: PRIDE Takeover

DC LGBTQ supportive health group Us Helping Us will host a new version of its annual Pride night on Saturday, Sept. 9 at Kings Dominion.

The event, “PRIDE Takeover,” is going to be a party with a wave pool and water slides, thrilling roller coasters, rocking performances by celebrity artists, live music, drinks, and friends and family. There will also be two exclusive events during the Takeover — Wave Pool Day Party & PRIDE In The Park After Dark.

Tickets are $84.99 and can be purchased on Us Helping Us’ website.

A Kings Dominion Pride event is slated for Sept. 9. (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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Rehoboth’s Gallery 50 to host shows by two gay artists Work of Gary Fisher, Jason Wright on display this summer

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

Two talented gay artists will showcase their work at Gallery 50 on Wilmington Avenue in Rehoboth Beach. Gary Fisher’s show will open on Aug. 11 and Jason Wright’s will follow opening on Sept. 1.

Fisher is now a local, living in Rehoboth Beach, which is where he does most of his work. His studio has won a prestigious International Design Award in Architecture, Building and Structure Design. He said, “I began painting over 40 years ago, taking a painting class on a whim, and quickly becoming passionate about my newly discovered talent and prolific with this ‘hobby.’ It created a whole separate life from my ‘day’ job as a trial attorney with the U.S. Justice Department.”

Since the 1990s, Fisher has been active in both the Rehoboth Beach and D.C. art communities. He has had shows at the Blue Moon, participated with a small group of artists in CAMP Rehoboth fundraising events, and has been active in the Rehoboth Art League. He has had local gallery representation since 2008.

Prior to moving his studio to Rehoboth in 2015, he shared space in D.C. on 14th Street, N.W., with several talented gay artists including Jason Wright, Glenn Fry, and Brian Petro. Their studio became a meeting and organizing spot for a fledgling group of Dupont and Logan Circle artists. They, along with the very talented Sondra Arkin, were founders and active members of the dynamic Mid-City Artists Group in D.C. Fisher told the Blade, “I currently paint with oil and my artwork ranges from the textural abstract landscape work that has been the focus of my major recent work, to brilliantly colored still life paintings and figurative paintings. My paintings reflect my highly individualized vision of the scenery or subject matter that surrounds

me in my gardens and studio, as well as those that I experience in my adventurous travels with my husband and friends. Color dominates my canvases.” Some of Gary’s work can be seen at www.fishergallery.com.

Jason Wright in his own words is a ‘military brat’ who has lived in many places including, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, Utah, and Hawaii. He spent his teen years immersed in the D.C. skateboard and music scene with his late brother. Wright said after his brother was killed, he moved to Utah to become a sponsored skateboarder and snowboarder. He became well respected in the back country snowboarding community, and co-founded one of the oldest tattoo shops in Salt Lake City. He then moved to Kauai to chase waves, as he says, and came to terms with being gay. In 2008 he moved back to D.C. to become a graphic designer and met Gary Fisher, who became a mentor to him. His career took various turns and among other pursuits in 2022 went to Arizona to work as a sky diving instructor for the military. He says his current work is called “Ephemeral Memoirs.” He went on to say, “In my artistic practice, I explore the concept of memory and its transient nature through the series titled ‘Ephemeral Memoirs.’ Inspired by the fleeting moments that shape our lives, I aim to capture the essence of these ephemeral experiences and transform them into visual narratives. Memory is a delicate and elusive phenomenon, constantly evolving and subject to distortion. Through my work, I seek to preserve these fleeting memories, allowing them to transcend time and space.”

Wright is represented by galleries in New York, D.C., Rehoboth and Alexandria, Va. Some of his body of work can be seen at Jason Wright Creative.

GARY FISHER and JASON WRIGHT

New Kennedy Center production embraces mishaps Zany comedy ‘The Play That Goes Wrong’ offers gut-busting gags

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Theater is no stranger to mishaps and mistakes, but with “The Play That Goes Wrong,” currently playing at the Kennedy Center, they’re invited and relished.

Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer, and Henry Shields’ zany comedy is a play within a play titled, “The Murder at Haversham Manor,” presented by the fictitious Cornley University Drama Society. We meet the usual cast of characters — British toffs, servants, and an inspector — but the hitch is that a lot goes wrong from flubbed lines, missed cues, breaking character to a collapsing set. In fact, every possible thing that can go wrong does.

The hijinks begin even before the play begins, including a couple of staged disagreements in the aisles of the Kennedy Center’s Eisenhower Theater. And from there it further unravels in myriad ways.

An excellent cast of actors plays a not-so-great cast of actors taking a stab at doing a 1920s murder mystery similar to Agatha Christie’s “The Mousetrap.” Kennedy Center cast members include players who have previously performed in “The Play That Goes Wrong” – hugely successful runs on Broadway, the National Tour, the recent Chicago production, and the current Off-Broadway production.

Alex Mandell gives a memorable comic turn as giggly Max. As stage manager Annie (Kai Almeda) reluctantly takes over for the eager leading lead (Mara Davi) who’s been knocked out cold and can’t go on. But increasingly the stage manager grows to like the limelight, and when the lead eventually comes to and wants her part back, Annie is loathe to cooperate. It’s funny.

Also featured are Bartley Booz as the butler, a mellifluous voiced Peyton Crim, Akron Watson as Trevor, “the Cornley Drama Society’s lighting and sound operator, and later the stage manager. He joined the society for extra credit on his electronics module in order to pass his degree.” Joseph Anthony Byrd plays the requisite corpse.

The marvelous drawing room with its fireplace, portraits and required fainting couch along with a hilariously unique mantelpiece, nicely lends itself to comic feats. Nigel Hook received both a Tony and Drama Desk Award for his scenic design efforts.

The production thoroughly enjoys itself breaking fourth walls and playing with meta theatricality including seeking audience assistance to repair a broken mantelpiece and locate a canine cast member that has disappeared. Matt Harrington as Chris Bean, the pretend director and lead detective, directly addresses the audience and makes some self-deprecating cracks. He queries whether the audience might rather be at “The Lion King” playing next door in the Opera House. A hearty laugh from the house assures otherwise.

Despite its wild success, this show isn’t for everyone. If you’re into farce, it’s for you. If not, you might want to skip it. But judging from the audience’s gut busting laughter at a recent performance, it’s definitely a crowd pleaser generally speaking. In reality, the production is staged by Matt DiCarlo whom we don’t see onstage. With

a running time of two hours and 20 minutes with one 20-minute intermission, it could work shorter. The play premiered in 2012 as a one act and was later reimagined as two acts with an intermission. That much farce leads to some of the gags feeling repetitive, but when the physical comedy works, it’s terrific.

‘The Play That Goes Wrong’

Through Aug. 13 | Kennedy Center $39–$159 | kennedy-center.org

The cast of ‘The Play That Goes Wrong.’

(Photo by Jeremy Daniel)

doesn’t care about your agenda

New film a ‘truth bomb’ delivered via candy-colored Trojan Horse

By JOHN PAUL KING

When you’re a Barbie, every day is perfect. You get to do whatever you want and be anything you want to be, whether it’s fashion model Barbie or President Barbie, and that’s just the way things naturally are.

When you’re not a Barbie, however, it might look more than a little bit like Barbie privilege.

This is, of course, a perspective flip undertaken by filmmaker Greta Gerwig in her latest film, which brings the doll of its eponymous title into the “real world” to look for answers after she experiences an unexpected existential crisis, in an endeavor to turn it into something deeper than a flashy, over-hyped toy commercial masquerading as a big screen blockbuster. It’s not the only one, but it’s the most obvious, and it has most of the movie’s inexplicably vehement detractors feigning outrage over what they deem as “woke” propaganda.

It’s certainly true that “Barbie” is loaded with the kind of messaging that conservatives deplore. In the screenplay co-authored by Gerwig with partner Noah Baumbach, Barbieland exists through the imagination of all the children who play with her; every Barbie (and Ken) lives there, but the plot focuses on their “stereotypical” iterations (Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling), who are forced to confront the differences between the idealized utopia in which they live and the still-farfrom-perfect reality inhabited by their human counterparts. Barbie, crestfallen, just wants to go home – but Ken, after seeing a world where the men seem to be in charge, is inspired with a different notion.

That premise, needless to say, gives Gerwig’s movie plenty of fodder for cultural commentary, and it holds nothing back as it goes after all the usual targets with palpable glee, so it’s no surprise a segment of the population would get their feathers ruffled over it.

What’s less predictable, perhaps, is the level of animosity aimed at the film from quarters one might expect to embrace it. This might be a function of Barbie’s “problematic” image, which has been tarnished by decades of criticism from those who (not wrongly) have called out the iconic doll – and the company that sells it – for promoting an idealized, male-defined image of femininity and undermining its purported message of female empowerment by simultaneously creating an unrealistic body image for women; let’s face it, there are people who just don’t like Barbie, for these reasons and more, and never will.

Since the film clearly addresses these controversies, however, and attempts to move past them toward a more evolved manifestation of the character, one might be tempted to suspect there’s more behind the aversion for the very idea of this movie that compels

so many people to belittle it, unprompted, on their social media feeds; and since – despite dismissive declarations of shallowness that have been levied against it, sight unseen, from the moment it was announced –“Barbie” goes much deeper than the predictably divisive political constructs of the so-called “culture wars” in its ambitious effort to be more than we expect it to be, we might be able to look further into those depths for more insightful reasons.

For starters, the path the movie takes to resolve its plot leads through many ideas that, for the more jaded among us, can easily seem like lip service. The idea that empathy, that seeing what it’s like to walk in someone else’s shoes, can fix all the problems of the world is so familiar that it can be reduced to a platitude; it’s a nice sentiment, but only the most romantic of optimists can be convinced of its believability, and perhaps of its sincerity, too. With that in mind, it’s easy to appreciate why so many people might be predisposed to resist its warm-and-cozy appeal.

Then there’s the well-publicized barrage of cinematic references – influences to which Gerwig has given a dizzyingly exhaustive array of shameless nods in her treatment of “Barbie” – that pop up as “Easter Eggs” from the movie’s very first sequence and continue without pause for pretty much its entire runtime. From “2001: A Space Odyssey” to “Blade Runner,” from “The Wizard of Oz” to “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” she lovingly crafts her visuals to evoke connections to myriad classics that have shaped her self-evidently masterful understanding of cinema – but while those might be fun for movie buffs with a penchant for trivia, they don’t do much for the average viewer who has likely never seen anything directed by Jacques Demy, let alone have knowledge about his use of color in crafting the “look” of a film. In fact, knowing that such elements are there could even feel like exclusionary intellectual snobbery.

Still, after experiencing the film firsthand, such reasons feel like excuses to us, rationalizations to justify a dislike that stems from something more personal – and perhaps, more uncomfortable – than the rhetorical stances that often dominate the analysis and judgment of film or any other art form. Though it makes no apol -

ogies for its espousal of feminist ideals or any of the other core “liberal” principles it embraces, it nevertheless dares to suggest that the problems of the world can’t be solved by merely upending the status quo. There may be quite a few amusing jokes about “The Patriarchy” involved, but by the time it’s over, “Barbie” posits that tearing it down isn’t really the solution so many of us imagine it to be – and that’s a frightening concept for anyone who is invested in the idea that it is.

There are many standout moments in “Barbie” – and yes, you can take that as an unequivocal recommendation of the film, which to us feels like a disruptive “truth bomb” delivered via a candy-colored Trojan Horse into the heart of contemporary culture and features superb and layered performances, not only from its two oft-maligned leading players but from a host of supporting cast members like Kate McKinnon and America Ferrera (who deserves to be a front-runner in next year’s Oscar race on the strength of one show-stopping monologue alone) as well – but two of these capture its essence. The first is a “Forrest Gump”ish exchange between Barbie and an elderly woman on a park bench, which consists of only four words; the studio, reportedly, wanted it cut, but Gerwig – who insisted on complete creative control before accepting the job – declined to concede. It’s a transcendent touch, and its power lies beyond words, so we’ll just leave it at that.

The second comes later, when Barbie confides to a mysterious woman (Rhea Perlman) she encounters by seeming chance that “The real world isn’t what I thought it was” – to which she receives the reply, “It never is.”

If “Barbie” can be said to have a moral, that’s probably it – and it’s one that has shaken humanity to its core for centuries.

Is it any wonder that so many human beings, believing themselves to be secure in their unquestioned and pre-programmed personal illusions, don’t want to hear that message?

But what do we know? Taste, like life itself, is a subjective experience, and the only opinion that ever matters – at least for you – is your own.

‘Barbie’

RYAN GOSLING and MARGOT ROBBIE in ‘Barbie.’

Tips for maintaining — or selling — your home this fall Clean gutters, sweep chimneys, and more

By JOSEPH HUDSON

It may be 99 degrees outside this week, but believe it or not, fall is just around the corner. If you have thought about buying a home, selling a home, or even just maintaining the one you have, here are a few tips for the “Fall Market season.”

• Test smoke and carbon monoxide detectors

• Change the furnace air filter – service HVAC by a licensed professional

• Sweep the chimneys

• Dust off refrigerator condenser coil

• Clean windows

• Clean ceiling mounted light fixtures

• Check and clean gutters

• Clean patio furniture

• Check weather stripping and caulking around doors and windows

• Clean out closets or attic and donate or throw away items that are not needed

According to the 2023 Remodeling Impact Report – found on the NAR website – these 5 outdoor projects bring the most bang for your buck:

• Standard lawn care maintenance (fertilizer and weed control)

• Landscape maintenance (mulch, mow, prune shrubs and plant perennials or annuals)

• Outdoor kitchen install

• Overall landscape upgrade (install planters, upgrade a stone walkway, plant flowering shrubs, etc)

• New backyard patio

Home buyers and sellers may be wondering what the fall has in store with regards to interest rates and the supply and demand. In May of this year, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that 74% of homes sold in less than a month. If a buyer is considering whether to purchase, they still should talk with their lender to see if they can afford the monthly payment, and what their adjustment options for refinancing down the road may be.

JOSEPH HUDSON

is a Realtor with the Rutstein Group of Compass. Reach him at 703-587-0597 or joseph@dcrealestate.com.

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