Washington Blade, Volume 55, Issue 30, July 26, 2024 by Washington Blade

LGBTQ America thanks President Biden, our ﬁercest ally, PAGES 12 & 16

OLYMPICS to kick off with record number of out athletes, PAGE 10

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Ruby Corado pleads guilty to wire fraud in plea agreement

Reduced charge says she stole at least $150,000 in COVID-relief funds

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

| lchibbaro@washblade.com

Ruby Corado, the founder and executive director of the now-defunct LGBTQ community services organization Casa Ruby, pleaded guilty Wednesday, July 17, to a single charge of wire fraud as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors with the Office of the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia.

The charge to which she pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for D.C. says she diverted at least $150,000 “in taxpayer-backed emergency COVID relief funds to private off-shore bank accounts for her personal use,” according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney’s office.

Court records show that U.S. District Court Judge Trevor N. McFadden, who is presiding over the case, has scheduled a sentencing hearing for Jan. 10, 2025.

Corado’s guilty plea came a little over six weeks after prosecutors on May 31 filed a one-count criminal infor-

mation charge of wire fraud against her that replaced an earlier criminal complaint charging her with bank fraud, money laundering, monetary transactions in criminally derived proceeds, and failure to file a required report of a foreign bank account.

The earlier complaint was filed at the time the FBI arrested Corado on March 5 of this year at a hotel in Laurel, Md., shortly after she returned to the U.S. from El Salvador. The initial complaint, like the new criminal information that replaced it, accused Corado of diverting at least $150,000 of federal pandemic relief funds to her own bank accounts in El Salvador. The charges say the funds were intended for use by Casa Ruby to support indigent LGBTQ clients in need of housing and other support services.

At the request of Corado’s court-appointed attorney and against the wishes of federal prosecutors, who said Corado would be a flight risk, another judge agreed to release Corado into the custody of her niece in Rockville, Md., under a home detention order. The release order came seven days after Corado had been held in jail since the time of her arrest on March 5.

The charge of wire fraud carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison, the U.S. Attorney’s office said in its July 17 statement.

However, legal observers have said that under a plea agreement like the one offered to Corado, prosecutors most likely will ask the judge for a lesser sentence. Corado’s attorney is also expected to point out that this is a nonviolent, first-time offense for Corado, which merits a lesser sentence.

Corado has denied wrongdoing in her operation of Casa Ruby in response to a separate civil complaint filed against her and Casa Ruby by the Office of the D.C. Attorney General. That complaint is still pending in D.C. Superior Court.

In its July 17 statement the U.S. Attorney’s office refers to court documents showing that Corado, “on behalf of Casa Ruby, received more than $1.3 million from the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.” The statement adds, “Instead of using the funds as she promised, Corado stole at least $150,000 by transferring the money to bank accounts in El Salvador, which she hid from the IRS.”

The statement says that in 2022, “when financial irregularities at Casa Ruby became public, Corado sold her home in Prince George’s County and fled to El Salvador.” It says FBI agents arrested her at the hotel in Laurel, Md. on March 5 “after she unexpectedly returned to the United States.”

Trans woman announces candidacy for ANC race in Columbia Heights

D.C. government official to challenge gay incumbent

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

| lchibbaro@washblade.com

Vida Rangel, a transgender woman who currently serves as Director of Operations in the D.C. Mayor’s Office of Talent and Appointments, has announced her candidacy for an Advisory Neighborhood Commission seat in the city’s Columbia Heights neighborhood

In a statement released on July 11, Rangel said she is running for the ANC single member district seat of 1A10, which is currently held by first-term incumbent Billy Easley, who identifies as a gay man.

“I’m running a groundbreaking campaign as the first trans person of color who would be elected in the District of Columbia,” Rangel said in the statement. “Representation matters.”

Rangel’s statement says in her current city government job she is the ‘highest-ranking openly transgender official in D.C. government history.” If elected to the ANC, she said she would focus, among other things, on language access for Spanish speaking residents, affordable housing, and reliable and accessible public transportation.

“As an autistic, queer, nonbinary, transgender Latina woman, Rangel’s commitment to public service and community is shaped by her lived experience,” her campaign statement says. “Growing up on the Texas Gulf Coast, Vida was raised by working parents and grandparents, along with her six siblings. She saw firsthand how social services and support could counterbalance devastating situations like a medical emergency, an unexpected bill, or even a misfiled form,” the statement says.

“My experiences ignited a fire, propelling me to fight for the rights of all communities, whether it be nondiscrimination protections, housing justice, access to edu-

cation, worker’s rights, or voting rights,” she says in the statement.

Rengel could not immediately be reached for comment on whether she disagrees with any of the positions or actions taken by incumbent commissioner Easley.

In his successful campaign for the ANC 1A10 seat in the city’s 2022 election Easley stated in an online statement “Together, we can make our streets safer and our community stronger. This neighborhood is where my husband and I met, it is where we fell in love, and it’s where we’ve lived for the last ten years.”

Easley told the Washington Blade in a July 19 phone interview that he has been endorsed in his re-election campaign by Ward 1 D.C. Council member Brianne Nadeau, which Easley said was a recognition of his accomplishments during his first term in office.

“In the last election I knocked on every door, and I’m going to do that again because it’s really important to me to connect with the voters and make sure that they’re being represented and to be an advocate for them,” he said. “Vida is a great person,” he added. “I have nothing bad to

say about her,” he said.

“But I have a record of accomplishment and I’m going to be running on that,” he told the Blade. “And I’m going to be running on making sure that our residents’ voices are heard. So, I’m ready to go.”

He said his accomplishments in his first term in office include contacting each of the residents in his district who the city’s water department said may have lead pipes and informing them how to get the pipes replaced through a free D.C. program; his appointment by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to her Juvenile Justice Advisory Group; organizing a Public Safety Summit with D.C. police and other city officials to address the issue of crime; and “successfully advocating” for more city funding for increased trash pick-up services in the neighborhood.

Easley points out that besides him, at least three other members of the 10-member ANC 1A10 identify as gay men.

Vincent Slatt, who serves as chair of the D.C. ANC Rainbow Caucus, said he believes between three and four-dozen ANC commissioners citywide are members of the LGBTQ community.

“This is probably not the first time that two LGBTQ people have run against each other for an ANC seat,” Slatt told the Blade in a statement. “However, to have two out LGBTQ candidates of color in one race certainly seems like a milestone,” he said. “Recently, we have had two out trans ANCs. To have a third out trans candidate is a sign of how much further along our city is than other places in the country,” Slatt said. “Not fully enough, but on the path forward.”

VIDA RANGEL (Photo by Praddy Banerjee/@praddyban)

RUBY CORADO (Photo via Facebook)

J.D. Vance lives in LGBTQ-friendly neighborhood in Alexandria

VP nominee’s home in Del Ray is near newly opened gay bar

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. |

lchibbaro@washblade.com

In a development that may come as a surprise to some, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, who Donald Trump has chosen as his vice-presidential running mate and who has voted against LGBTQ rights legislation, has lived for a little over a year on a quiet street in the Del Ray neighborhood of Alexandria, Va., that has a sizable number of LGBTQ residents.

Public property records show that Vance and his family live on a side street two blocks off a section of Mt. Vernon Avenue, which is Del Ray’s main commercial street, where the gay pop-up bar Pride On The Avenue opened

in June.

Vance’s house in Del Ray, which the Washington Post reports was purchased for $1.6 million, is also located in the district of gay Virginia State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D), which includes all of Alexandria and parts of Arlington and Fairfax counties.

“Being a resident of a district as diverse as mine gives J.D. Vance an opportunity to experience what truly makes America great,” Ebbin told the Washington Blade. “With a bilingual elementary school and LGBTQ gathering space nearby, I’d encourage Mr. Vance to visit with some of my constituents so he can hear from them on how they will be negatively impacted by anti-immigrant and anti-LGBT policies put forward in the GOP Party Platform and Project 2025,” Ebbin said in an email.

Ebbin was referring to the 900-page far-right policy document prepared by the conservative Heritage Foundation as a plan of action for a new Trump administration if Trump wins the presidential election in November. The Project 2025 document, among other things, opposes LGBTQ rights initiatives and calls for repealing existing LGBTQ rights legislation.

Bill Blackburn, a co-owner of Pride On The Avenue, recalls that people referred to then as members of the gay community moved to Del Ray in the early 1990s and possibly earlier in large numbers and played a lead role in buying old, often rundown houses and renovating them.

“It’s interesting that Del Ray was kind of gentrified by

Nonprofit D.C. groups invited to apply for anti-LGBTQ violence grants

$700,000 available for FY 2025 ‘VPART’ program

By LOU CHIBBARO

JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs held a conference on July 18 to inform interested officials with local nonprofit community-based organizations that provide services to the LGBTQ community how best to apply for city grants of between $5,000 and $50,000 as part of the city’s Violence Prevention and Response Team program, known as VPART.

Information released by the program states that its mission is to “address, reduce, and prevent crime within and against the LGBT community” by “creating a strong partnership between the community and the government which enables us to focus on coordinating a community response to violence.”

Hate-bias crimes targeting the LGBTQ community are among the program’s high priority objectives, information released by the program says.

Presentations on how best to apply for the VPART grants and what the requirements are for obtaining them were given by LGBTQ Affairs Office Director Japer Bowles and the office’s grants administrator, George Garcia. The two

said the deadline for submitting grant applications for the program is Aug. 5. Organizations whose applications are approved will receive the grant funds they are approved for on Oct. 30, which is the start of fiscal year 2025.

Garcia said a total of $700,000 has been allocated to fund the VPART grants, the number of which will depend on how many applications are received.

Garcia said that among the key components of the VPART program are Victim Response Services, Case Management, Legal Services, Trauma Informed Mental Health Services, and Cultural Humility Training that he said are aimed, among other things, to support LGBTQ victims of violent crime.

One of the organizations that has received VPART grants in past years, and that is expected to apply again this year is the D.C. LGBTQ Community Center.

“Along with offering trauma-informed therapy and casework, the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center directly supports LGBTQ+ survivors with our mental health services, shelter assistance, and other resources victims of violence may

a lot of the gay community in the ‘90s,” Blackburn said. “And there’s still a lot of residents in Del Ray from that early period who kind of reinvigorated Del Ray,” he said. “So, it’s interesting how this neighborhood evolved and how it’s become such a sought-after neighborhood that we even get right-wing Republicans who see the value of living here.”

According to Blackburn, Vance “lives like a hundred yards away” from Pride On The Avenue.

People familiar with Del Ray point out that during Pride month in June many of the stores and shops along Mt. Vernon Avenue display Pride flags. Blackburn said Pride On The Avenue, which is currently the only gay bar in Alexandria, “has been very well received” by nearby residents and visitors to the neighborhood.

Voting records from past elections show Del Ray, even more than Alexandria as a whole, has elected Democrats over Republicans and has supported Democrats in statewide elections. In the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden won against Donald Trump in Del Ray by a greater than 80 percent margin, according to the Washington Post.

Washingtonian magazine has reported that after news surfaced last year that Vance and his family had moved into their house in Del Ray, a local artist staged a one-person protest by placing rainbow colored striped cloth and Pride flags in the area, including on a tree across the street from Vance’s house.

need,” the LGBTQ Center says in a statement. “If you are LGBTQ+ and are a victim of violence, or know someone who is, you can refer them to the DC LGBTQ+ Community Center and we will make sure they are supported and connected to the resources they need,” the statement says. The conference was held at the Reeves Center municipal building where the LGBTQ Affairs office and other city agencies as well as the LGBTQ Community Center are located at 2000 14th St., N.W. About a dozen people attended the conference in person and another 14 attended virtually through Zoom, according to Bowles.

LGBTQ Affairs Office Director JAPER BOWLES (Photo courtesy Japer Bowles)

J.D. VANCE moved to Del Ray not far from a gay bar. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Paris prepares for the gayest games since Tokyo Everything LGBTQ about the 2024 Summer Games

By DAWN ENNIS

When this week’s Summer Olympic Games kick off in Paris, it will bewith an abundance of flair, fireworks, and joie de vivre — that’s French for “joy of life” — and more inclusion than ever before.

For the first time, the Olympics have achieved gender parity, with 50% of athletes identifying as men and 50% identifying as women, and at least two athletes identifying as transgender nonbinary. There is one trans man, boxer Hergie Bacyadan of the Philippines. These athletes will compete in 32 sports and 339 events, starting this week, and once again there will also be a Refugee Team featuring 37 athletes from all over the world, vying for medals in 12 sports.

There will also be a huge amount of LGBTQ representation among more than 200 countries and that Refugee Team. The big name athletes include track and field star Sha’Carri Richardson, shot-putter Raven Saunders, basketball superstars Diana Taurasi, Breanna Stewart, new “Pops” Brittney Griner, Alyssa Thomas (who is engaged to her WNBA teammate DeWanna Bonner), BMX Freestyle riders Hannah Roberts and Perris Benegas, the British diver Tom Daley, who is competing in his fifth Olympic Games, and Brazil’s legendary soccer player Marta, who will compete for a sixth time.

But determining exactly how many athletes are out is no easy feat.

Published estimates of total competitors range from 10,500 to 10,700, and the official Olympics site counts 11,232 athletes, including one 18-year-old woman representing the People’s Republic of China who will compete in a sport making its debut at this Olympics, called breaking — better known as breakdancing. She is identified only as “671,” no first or last name, just “671.” Good luck, “Six!”

While we don’t know how “671” identifies, there is a consensus that these games will see the largest contingent of out athletes since the 2020 Olympics were played in Tokyo in 2021, delayed a year because of the pandemic. GLAAD and Athlete Ally counted 222 out athletes competing in Tokyo, as mentioned in their comprehensive guide to these Summer Games, a collaboration with Pride House France.

In 2021, the editors at the LGBTQ sports website Outsports had estimated there were 120 competing in Japan, and updated that number to 186 after learning about other athletes who were LGBTQ, including some who came out after competing. That number, they said, set a new record.

This year, they have once again done the math, and calculated how many queer competitors will participate in this year’s Summer Games: Fewer than in Tokyo, but more than in any other Olympics.

“At least 144 publicly out gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and nonbinary athletes will be in Paris for the 2024

Olympics, the second consecutive Summer Games where the number has reached triple digits,” says Outsports co-founder Jim Buzinski. “There are also a record number of out male Olympians.”

And yet, Team USA has only one man who is publicly out: distance runner Nico Young, a cross-country and track and field athlete at Northern Arizona University. Young, 21, came out as gay in 2022 in a post on Instagram.

“I am living proof that it is not a choice, it is something I have always known and been aware of, but have kept silent out of fear of rejection,” Young wrote. “I have struggled to accept myself, but I am becoming more proud and happy with who I am. I have realized that the only reason I never liked this part of who I am was because of what society has told me, not because of how I actually feel. This is a quality of myself as well as so many other people that should be accepted and celebrated just the same as a straight person’s identity is.”

USA has the most out athletes

At least 24 countries — including the Refugee Team — are represented by at least one publicly out athlete in 32 sports this year. As before, the United States has the most out athletes of all with 28, about one-fifth of the athletes on the “Team LGBTQ” list compiled by Outsports.

Brazil has 22 out athletes, Australia has 17, Great Britain is fourth with 10 and Germany has nine.

Not surprisingly, out women athletes far outnumber out men on their list by about a 7 to 1 margin. But it’s not women’s basketball that has the most out athletes of any sport, with more than 30 players identifying as LGBTQ. It’s women’s soccer.

Tierna Davidson of Menlo Park, Calif., is the sole American competing in women’s soccer who is publicly queer. She proposed to her partner Alison Jahansouz in March. At Stanford, Davidson and her team won an NCAA title in college football. Then, at age 20, she won the 2019 Women’s World Cup — the youngest player on USWNT — and the Bronze with Team USA in Tokyo. But with the departure of the team’s gay icons, namely Megan Rapinoe, Davidson, 25, told The Athletic she said she feels pressure like never before.

“I think that there’s no illusion that the ratio of queerness on the team has decreased a little bit, at least with players that are out,” she said, noting that as an introvert she is not seeking the high profile of Rapinoe. “And so, I think it’s important to recognize that I am part of that ratio, and that it is important to bring issues to the table that are important to me and to my community, and be able to be that representative for people that look up to queer athletes and see themselves in me on the field.”

Canadian soccer player Quinn, 28, returns to the Olympics this week as the first transgender nonbinary athlete to have won a gold medal, at Tokyo in 2021, as the Blade reported. They came out to their team in an email in 2020, and recently took part in a Q&A about that experience.

“I think I had a better relationship with my teammates after coming out,” they said. “I had a new confidence and ability to be vulnerable with them and it strengthened many relationships in my life. There were some players on my professional team at the time who were ignorant, but having the overwhelming majority of players and staff support me really created an environment where anything less than that wouldn’t be tolerated.”

As of press time, GLAAD and Athlete Ally are still counting how many out athletes will be competing in Paris. But the numbers aren’t as important as visibility, GLAAD President & CEO, Sarah Kate Ellis told the Blade. “LGBTQ athletes continue to shine at the Olympic Games, including transgender athletes who will help reporters and viewers to see their humanity as well as their achievements,” Ellis said. “For the first time there will be gender parity among Olympic athletes, a significant milestone that comes as transgender and nonbinary people are also included. This guide, created in collaboration with Athlete Ally and Pride House France, is uniquely positioned to help media covering the Games include and report on LGBTQ athletes so their talents and stories are centered to inform and inspire acceptance among audiences around the world.”

Of course, compiling all these lists is a gargantuan task, one that LGBTQ historian Tony Scupham-Bilton of Nottingham, U.K., has been doing for more than a decade with a blog called The Queerstory Files. He told the Blade he contributed to the list Outsports published.

“I had six athletes which they didn’t have on their list when we compared them last week, but there were about 20 athletes on their list which I didn’t have,” Scupham-Bilton said, noting that inclusion is increasing. “Paris has already exceeded previous levels of representation and involvement. That indicates a probable increase in medals. I have also noticed that there has been an increase in the number of Olympians coming out between Olympics.”

One other big change in terms of representation that this historian sees is how the Olympics themselves have embraced the LGBTQ community.

“Even though there have been Pride Houses at most Olympic Games since Vancouver 2010, the majority of which have been supported by the various organizing committees, Paris 2024 is the first to include it on its official website,” Scupham-Bilton told the Blade.

As the Blade reported, Team USA celebrated Santa Cruz, Calif., native Nikki Hiltz qualifying for the Olympics with their record-setting finish in the 1,500-meter race earlier this month with an Instagram post that drew a flood of negative comments from straight cisgender men.

Hiltz, 29, is the other trans nonbinary athlete competing in Paris. Team USA’s post showed them writing “I ♥ the gays” on a camera lens. A lot of the comments showed ignorance of their actual identity, calling them a “cheater” and “a man.”

Hiltz responded with grace, in an Instagram post about how far they’ve come since 2021. That year they finished dead last in the Olympic trials, held shortly after they came out. Earlier this month, Hiltz reflected on their growth.

“I’ve spent the past 3 years rebuilding my confidence and reshaping that narrative. Telling myself every single day that I belong. Showing up to meets, taking up space, and making friends with those little voices in my head that consistently tried to convince me I was too confusing, I was a burden or I wasn’t enough,” they wrote.

This year, in Eugene, Ore., was different.

“I stood on the start line of the Olympic Trials 1500 final and told myself ‘I can do this, the world will make space for you. Remember to enjoy this race and have fun playing the game of racing, this is your moment.’ The gun went off, it got hard, I didn’t crumble, I didn’t fall off the pace, I held on and 3 minutes and 55 seconds later I broke the finish line tape and became an Olympian.”

But by far the biggest name in LGBTQ sports at this Olympics is that of the fastest woman in the world: Sha’Carri Richardson. She missed out on competing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in 2021 for testing positive for cannabis, and now is going for gold.

Richardson graced a recent cover of Vogue, and told the magazine how committed she is to this goal: “Everything I do—what I eat, what I drink, if I stay up too late—it’s all reflected on the track,” she said. “Every choice. That’s what the world doesn’t see.” But she also talked about keeping herself fixed firmly in the present. “If all I’m doing is looking ahead, then I can’t be where I need to be. Which is here, now.”

The Blade will be there, in Paris, to bring you all the excitement from the Olympic Games.

The biggest name in LGBTQ sports at this Olympics is that of the fastest woman in the world: SHA’CARRI RICHARDSON (Screenshot/YouTube NBC Sports)

Harris becomes de-facto 2024 Democratic presidential nominee

Rollercoaster week ends in optimism, record-breaking fundraising

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com

Less than two days after President Joe Biden announced his decision to step off the ticket and endorsed Kamala Harris to run in his stead, the vice president has emerged as her party’s de-facto pick to take on the Republican nominee Donald Trump in November.

According to data from the Associated Press, by Monday 2,868 of the nearly 4,000 delegates who represent Democratic voters had endorsed Harris, well exceeding the 50 percent threshold necessary for her to lock up the nomination, which will be made official during the Democratic National Convention next month. The first ballots will be cast between Aug. 1 and Aug. 7.

“When I announced my campaign for president, I said I intended to go out and earn this nomination,” the vice president said in a statement Monday. “Tonight, I am proud to have secured the broad support needed to become our party’s nominee,” she said, adding, “I look forward to formally accepting the nomination soon.”

Virtually all prominent Democrats whose names were floated as potential rivals quickly lined up behind Harris, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was tapped to co-chair the campaign, and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, the first openly gay Cabinet member, who is considered one of the top contenders to be her running mate.

As of midday Wednesday, endorsements had come from more than 90 percent of House Democrats, including House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) as well as from every Democratic governor and every Democratic U.S. senator except for Jon Tester (Mont.) and Bob Menendez (N.J.) (who was just convicted on charges related to an international bribery scheme and announced plans to resign from Congress).

Also supporting Harris are major organizations that are allied with the party (limited, of course, to those permitted under FEC rules to endorse political candidates). Among them are major labor unions like SEIU and IBEW, advocacy shops like Emily’s List and Gen Z for Change, and civil rights groups like UnidosUS and the Human Rights Campaign.

And in a signal of the popularity of a reconfigured Democratic ticket led by the vice president, her campaign announced that a record-breaking sum in excess of $100 million was raised between Saturday afternoon and Tuesday morning with mostly small-dollar contributions from 1.1 million supporters, 60 percent of whom were first-time donors.

The journey toward Harris’s nomination began with the president’s shaky performance against Trump during the televised CNN debate on June 27, which led to a chorus of calls for the 81-year-old to step aside as polls showed he had no clear path to winning the race.

By and large, the Democratic donors, celebrities, and elected officials who pushed for a new ticket did so despite their admiration and affinity for Biden and respect for his record as president. Within the party and beyond, his decision to walk away was celebrated as a patriotic sacrifice of per-

sonal ambition for the good of the country.

After Biden backed Harris, she visited campaign headquarters in Wilmington, Del. on Monday, where she delivered remarks about how she will parlay her experience as a prosecutor who went after “predators” and “fraudsters” into her work arguing the case against Trump and ultimately defeating him in November.

Harris also reaffirmed her loyalty to and kinship with Biden while reassuring campaign staff, who had just weathered — by far, at least so far — the rockiest period of the 2024 cycle. “I know it’s been a rollercoaster, and we’re all filled with so many mixed emotions about this,” she said, adding, “I just have to say: I love Joe Biden.”

The president, who was isolating and recovering from COVID at his home in Rehoboth Beach, Del., called in to the event with words of support and encouragement for the team and for Harris, to whom he said, “I’m watching you, kid,” and “I love ya.”

The next day, Harris headlined a rally in the key battleground state of Wisconsin, where the reception she received was widely described as energetic and enthusiastic, especially when compared to similar campaign affairs prior to the vice president’s emergence this week as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Putting aside the enthusiasm voters appear to have for her candidacy and the massive uptick in fundraising dollars, the rapid coalescence of support for her nomination from virtually the entire Democratic Party along with the various affiliated interests and entities, and the deftness with which she navigated an especially fraught conflict at which she was in the very center both personally and politically, any lingering questions about whether Harris has the full suite of skills and attributes of a top-tier candidate for national political office may have dissipated with her performance in these and other recent public appearances.

If, in fact, they persist, concerns about Harris’s ability to rise to the occasion largely stem from her 2020 Democratic presidential primary campaign, which folded ahead of the Iowa caucuses amid criticism that the California Democrat failed to articulate a cohesive and authentic message about her reasons for running and her vision for America.

As San Francisco Chronicle Washington correspondent Shira Stein said during Jake Tapper’s program on Tuesday, Harris has sharpened her skills as a politician over the past four years as vice president. The political landscape has also shifted in ways that seem more broadly favorable to her candidacy in 2024. For example, voters might be more receptive to a nominee who built her career as a smart-on-crime prosecutor now that conversations about justice in policing are less salient than they were in the aftermath of George Floyd’s murder while concerns about public safety are now more ascendant.

The 2020 campaign aside, to the extent that Harris may have other handicaps — missteps while in office, controversial elements of her prosecutorial record, her perceived shortcomings as a candidate — they are, largely, already known, Stein said. “She’s been in political life for quite a long time.”

Far less clear is what the polls will look like over the months ahead as Harris reintroduces herself to voters and the dust settles from recent events that have caused tremendous upheaval in the 2024 race, including Biden’s departure from the ticket.

LGBTQ leaders back Harris, thank Biden

In written statements and public remarks over the past few days, LGBTQ leaders and organizations highlighted

Biden and Harris’s records advancing rights and protections for the community, touted their administration’s legacy as the most pro-LGBTQ in history. (Washington Blade Editor Kevin Naff published an op-ed Wednesday titled, “Joe Biden, our fiercest ally.”)

They voiced confidence in Harris’s vision for building on that progress over the next four years and chronicled the ways in which she — in her roles as San Francisco district attorney, California attorney general, U.S. senator, and VP — had a hand in many of the major milestones in the fight for LGBTQ civil rights that were won over the past few decades, from the legalization of same-sex marriage to ending the so-called “gay and trans panic defense.”

Several who spoke out to support Harris noted that she would be the first Black woman and the first South Asian presidential nominee to lead a major party ticket, having previously broken barriers throughout her career in public service with history-making elections.

“We are deeply grateful to President Biden for his more than 50 years of public service and his longtime support for the LGBTQ+ community,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said. “Today’s announcement reflects what President Biden has done his entire career and will be core to his legacy: putting the needs of Americans and his country above his own.”

“We owe the Biden-Harris team a debt of gratitude for leading the country out of a state of chaos and constant crisis under former President Trump,” she said. “And the Human Rights Campaign endorses the tough, formidable, and experienced Vice President Kamala Harris for president. Vice President Harris has the support of millions of Americans, as primary voters have already made the decision to put her on the ticket.”

Robinson said, “Vice President Kamala Harris is a trailblazer and has been a champion for LGBTQ+ equality for decades: from leading the fight in San Francisco against hate crimes and her work in California to end the so-called gay and transgender ‘panic defense’ to her early support for marriage equality and her leadership serving as our Vice President.”

Annise Parker, president and CEO of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute, said her organization “commends President Joe Biden on leading the most progressive and inclusive presidential term in American history” under which “LGBTQ+ people have received a record number of federal appointments, including cabinet members, judges and around 14% of political appointments.”

National LGBTQ+ Task Force Action Fund Executive Director Kierra Johnson said: “We are grateful for President Biden’s decades of service and allyship to LGBTQ communities - and for everything his administration has done to move our community forward. … The Task Force action fund calls on LGBTQ+ people and our allies to take action and engage in the political process. Only through a show of voting power in the November 5 election will we begin building the democracy we deserve.”

Gay U.S. Rep. Mark Takano (Calif.), who on Saturday became the 36th Democrat on Capitol Hill to call for Biden to exit the race, urged the president to hand “the torch to Vice President Harris as the Democratic Party presidential nominee.”

“It has become clear to me that the demands of a modern campaign are now best met by the Vice President, who can seamlessly transition into the role of our party’s standard bearer,” he wrote.

Vice President KAMALA HARRIS has secured the delegates needed to capture the Democratic nomination for president.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Trans experiences with the internet range from ‘harrowing’ to ‘powerful’

New survey provides insights into the stakes of web use for LGBTQ adults

By HENRY CARNELL

Alex, 29, would not have met their friends without the internet. While living in a small city surrounded by farmland, finding community was not always easy.

Alex tried out one of those apps for adults seeking to make friends. It turned out to be a remarkable success. “I’ve made my friend group as a direct result of using the internet,” they said, explaining that even though all the friends are trans, due to their diverse interests, “we would have been hard-pressed to have ever really run into each other by happenstance.”

Making friends online is also safer for Alex. Before they pursued HRT and surgery and looked more “visibly queer,” they were in scary situations. “I’ve had pickup trucks chase me while driving, people call out slurs while driving by me, and I’ve been shot at,” they said.

Having the internet available for appointments, work, and social activities is fundamental to their life.

But the web was not always such a friendly place for Alex. “There’s so much hate and falsehoods out there about trans people,” they said. “It’s why it takes so long for some of us to learn about who we are.”

This dissonance is widespread within the LGBTQ community. A recent report—”ctrl+alt+lgbt: Digital Access, Usage, and Experiences of the LGBTQ+ Community”—by LGBT Tech and Data for Progress provides insight into that phenomenon.

Shae Gardner, director of policy at LGBT Tech, explained that most of the research about the LGBTQ community’s internet use historically has focused on youth. The project aimed to fill the gap. From surveys with 1,300 people across the country, the report found that while the internet is a foundational space for LGBTQ community building and self-expression, it also comes with a high risk for bullying and harassment.

These findings intensify when looking specifically at the data for underrepresented groups within the LGBTQ population like the transgender community, who are by far the group that faces the most harassment online, per the Anti-Defamation League. Gardner explained that the survey was over-sampled for transgender individuals intentionally. “We really wanted to understand that specific experience,” Gardner said.

The Blade interviewed five trans people about their experiences to gain insight into how different community members felt

while navigating the web and specifically identified sources who do not have public platforms and therefore do not face heightened public scrutiny. Due to concern for backlash, all sources for this story spoke on condition of anonymity with gender-ambiguous names and they/them pronouns.

Four out of five of the people interviewed emphasized that the internet is a vital resource for accessing healthcare.

Riley, 24, explained, “I have such immense dread about transitioning because I don’t want to have to interact with doctors around my identity. I feel like I don’t have access to providers who are able to understand me.”

The internet, for many, provides a safe location to access health information and care without the judgment of doctors. Kai, 23, and Cameron, 27, both shared that the internet was an important place for them to learn specifics around trans healthcare and seek out trans-friendly providers. Alex agreed and added that they have made it so all of their doctors’ appointments through tele-health.

These experiences are consistent with the larger trans community. LGBT Tech’s survey found that 70% of transgender adults use the internet to find LGBTQ-friendly healthcare. By comparison, only 41% of cisgender LGBTQ adults use the internet to find the same friendly care.

All the sources interviewed said they sought LGBTQ community online with varying degrees of success.

Jordan, 24, said that not only is social media a good way to stay connected with people they know, but it also helps them find a broader community. “It’s nice to follow other trans and queer people whose experiences can inspire me or make me feel seen.”

Cameron emphasized that the internet provides connections to activities and communities around town. “Social media has facilitated my in-person queer and trans community,” they explained. “I learn a lot about what queer events are happening around town via social media. I have a wonderful community playing queer sports that I wouldn’t have found without the internet.”

Kai shared that it hasn’t been a successful pursuit for them: “I wish it did more than it does.”

Per Trans Tech’s survey, transgender adults “often” use social media to connect with existing LGBTQ friends and family 41% of the time (as opposed to “sometimes”

“rarely” or “never”). This is 21% more than the LGBTQ community at large. The survey also reveals that transgender adults are 20% more likely to “often” use social media to connect with new LGBTQ community than the LGBTQ community at large.

Everyone but Cameron has experienced some form of direct bullying or harassment for being transgender, either online or in person. The survey found that 83% of transgender adults have faced bullying online. By comparison, 59% of the cisgender LGBTQ community faced bullying online.

“Technology is only as good as its application. And this is the other side of the dual-edged sword,” said Gardner.

Gardner explained that the online and in-person harassment was mirrored. “The experiences of anti-LGBTQ bullying were very high, both for LGBTQ+ individuals and especially for trans individuals, but those numbers were nearly equitable to the experiences that that they have in the real world with anti-LGBTQ+ bullying,” she said. The survey found that 82% of transgender adults faced bullying in person.

The survey found despite the comparable levels of harassment and high levels of misinformation (93% of transgender adults saw anti-LGBTQ misinformation online), respondents overwhelmingly felt safe on-

line—67% of trans adults and 76% of cisgender LGBTQ adults.

When she compared this phenomenon to her life, Gardner wasn’t surprised. “The harassment that I have faced online has certainly felt less immediately threatening than what I’ve faced in person. The mental toll it takes is significant, but I would argue individuals probably have an easier time getting away from it.”

That doesn’t stop Gardner from noting, “We need to be fighting [harassment] in both places.”

She explained that, “when we are staring down the barrel of record-setting anti-LGBTQ+ legislation yet again, it is so integral to keep fighting for digital spaces to be as safe as possible.”

Regardless of its safety, it is a space that is a constant for many. “I use the internet constantly,” said Alex. “I use the internet a lot at work since I have a desk job,” said Jordan. When reflecting on the internet, Riley summed up the tensions they experience. “It can be harrowing often but simultaneously it’s where I feel a sense of community and access.”

(This story is part of the Digital Equity Local Voices Fellowship lab through News is Out. The lab initiative is made possible with support from Comcast NBCUniversal.)

is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com

Joe Biden, our fiercest ally

Outgoing president leaves powerful legacy for LGBTQ equality

President Biden bowed out of the presidential race on Sunday after weeks of pressure following his debate performance in June. He leaves a long record of support for the LGBTQ community as a key part of his powerful legacy and he has raised the bar for future presidents when it comes to fighting for our community.

We’ve never had a fiercer ally in the White House — a president who pledged to make LGBTQ rights his top legislative priority and described anti-transgender discrimination as the “civil rights issue of our time.” He has celebrated Pride month with us each year as well as the Trans Day of Visibility and taken criticism from the right for it. He includes us in the State of the Union Address and other high-profile speeches.

Young voters mustn’t get complacent; such sentiments from a sitting president are not the norm. Biden’s leadership on LGBTQ equality means the next Democratic president has big shoes to fill. Vice President Kamala Harris would certainly continue Biden’s work toward equality, specifically by pushing for passage of the Equality Act, which Biden backed and which passed the House but died in a Senate filibuster in 2021.

Biden has changed the game in myriad ways, especially when it comes to LGBTQ inclusion in federal appointments. The country has never had a Senate-confirmed openly LGBTQ Cabinet member before (no, Ric Grenell doesn’t count as he was not confirmed). Pete Buttigieg’s tenure as Transportation Secretary has seen its challenges, but he has proven himself a capable, polished executive unafraid of taking on Fox News antagonists. As the Victory Fund noted this week, “LGBTQ+ people have received a record number of federal appointments, including Cabinet members, judges, and around 14% of the administration.” In addition to Buttigieg, he appointed Dr. Rachel Levine as the first out transgender person to hold an office that requires Senate confirmation. And Biden made more history, naming Karine Jean-Pierre, a Black lesbian, as his press secretary.

It’s outrageous that it took until 2021 for an out Cabinet secretary and thanks to Biden, we can look forward to many more.

Biden also led in advocating for marriage equality, endorsing the idea days before his boss President Obama in 2012 and just six months before the election. It was a bold and brave move that even LGBTQ advocates discouraged. As president, Biden fought successfully to preserve marriage equality in the increasingly likely event that the historic Obergefell ruling is overturned by our discredited MAGA Supreme Court. The Respect for Marriage Act ensures that the federal government and all U.S. states and territories must recognize same-sex and interracial marriages. Biden signed it and held a massive event on the White House lawn bringing together hundreds of LGBTQ advocates from around the country for a truly joyful celebration of the landmark legislation.

In a historic move just last month for Pride, Biden pardoned veterans who were discharged from the military because of their sexual orientation or gender identity.

“This is about dignity, decency, and ensuring the culture of our Armed Forces reflect the values that make us an exceptional nation,” he said.

Biden began his term on Jan. 20, 2021, and on that very day, issued an expansive executive order detailing workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans and prohibiting discrimination in education, credit, health care, and housing. And every month since, his administration has ushered in one pro-LGBTQ initiative after another, a list too long to fully recap here. Biden isn’t finished advocating for us. On Aug. 1, new Title IX rules go into effect protecting LGBTQ students from discrimination by expanding existing civil rights law.

It’s a staggering record of support and the LGBTQ community owes Biden and his team a tremendous debt of gratitude. Biden will be remembered fondly and revered by history for taking down Donald Trump, rebuilding our economy, leading us out of a pandemic, and for showing future presidents how to fully embrace and empower the LGBTQ community. He has more than earned our thanks — and a long, healthy retirement in Rehoboth Beach.

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

Don’t sit out the election or vote third party Get energized, support Democrats, and defeat Trump

We are facing difficult choices in the next 14 weeks. Democrats will decide formally who will replace Joe Biden on the Democratic ticket. We already know Republicans have chosen Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. I agree with President Biden and support Kamala Harris, with either Sen. Mark Kelley (D-Ariz.), or Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, as her running mate.

But, whoever it is, to those of you thinking of not voting, or voting third party, my questions to you are simple: Can you live in a world in which Donald Trump is president, and his MAGA cult runs the country? Can you live in a world where the president of the United States is a climate denier? Can you live in a world where the president of the United States continues to give tax deductions to the rich, while the poor and middle class, are suffering? Can you live in a world where the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is eliminated, and if a bank goes under your account is no longer insured? Can you live in a world where women no longer control their own health care, and abortion is illegal? Where doctors who dare to perform an abortion to save the life of a woman, can be jailed? Where Vance said, when asked whether anti-abortion laws should have exceptions for rape and incest exceptions, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” Can you live in a world where transgender persons can no longer get healthcare? Can you live in a world where the president thinks it’s OK for 37 states to allow members of the LGBTQ community to be thrown out of their job, and home, just for being who they were born to be? Can you live in a world where the president can call out the army to quell a demonstration, like he did for the one supporting Black Lives Matter? Can you live in a world where the president openly says he will protect anyone who is a white Christian, and end all diversity programs in schools and colleges? Can you live in a world where it will be OK to have Bible classes, and prayers, in every public school across the nation? Can you live in a world where America spends billions to build up our military, attempts to build an iron dome over our country, but refuses to help the rest of the world? Can you live in a world where we say it’s OK for Putin to take Ukraine? Can you live in a world where there is no chance for the Palestinian people to ever be free, or have their own state?

I ask these questions because that is what you will get if Trump and Vance are in the White House. How do I know? Because they have said so. Both in the Republican platform, which has now been approved, and in Project 2025, which Trump’s closest advisers in the Heritage Foundation have set as the blueprint for his administration. I haven’t made these things up. They are real, and to me, very frightening. I am older, and won’t live that long with the ravages of climate change, but young people will suffer their whole lives. I am not a woman, but women will continue to see options to control their own healthcare eroded. I am not Black, so I will not see my voting rights eroded. I am not an immigrant, so will not be looking over my shoulder every minute wondering if I am next to be deported. But I am gay, and will also suffer under Trump and Vance. The bottom line is, we will all suffer.

The only way to fight this fascist pig, who has been held liable for sexual assault, convicted of 34 felonies, is a proud misogynist, sexist, racist, and homophobe, is at the ballot box. We must never condone violence of any kind. We must all call that unacceptable, and call out anyone who would consider it. So, it is at the ballot box we can win, and defeat Trump and Vance. We can only do that by voting for whoever the Democratic candidate will be. Voting for a third party is throwing away your vote, in essence aiding Trump. No third party candidate has won since 1865, and in the last 36 years, none has ended up with more than 5% of the vote. None will in 2024.

So, I plead with you: Think about the world you want to live in. If you do, I am confident on Nov. 5, 2024, you will vote for the Democrat, whoever that is.

JAMES PATTERSON

is a former U.S. diplomat and a life member of the American Foreign Service Association.

I heard the right words from Rev. Troy Perry

Happy 84th birthday to an LGBTQ pioneer

Hearing meaningful words at an important time in one’s life can lead to personal growth and change. While at university, I heard the right words about homosexuality from the right messenger, Rev. Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church (MCC). Rev. Perry celebrates his 84th birthday on July 27.

Founded in 1968, newspapers once referred to MCC as the “Metropolitan (Gay) Church.” My hometown newspaper, the Atlanta Journal, has, since the 1970s, reported on the growth of the city’s MCC. Rev. Perry regularly visited Atlanta. At a young age, I learned that an openly gay man in Atlanta got attention.

Perry’s autobiography “The Lord is my Shepherd, and He knows I’m Gay,” is his testimony about keeping his faith during his struggle to reconcile it with his sexuality. It was an important book that captured the attention of many other allies, including newspaper editors and religious columnists.

Dr. Walter Alvarez, whose religion column appeared in the Atlanta Journal, dedicated full columns to Rev. Perry. Alvarez and other religion columnists helped Rev. Perry to spread the word about MCC. They also helped congregations to minister to gays in their churches. It was early Christian cooperation in newspapers. Rev. Perry was the power behind that cooperation.

The right words that I heard Rev. Perry say were spoken on an Atlanta TV program. “We [meaning Christians] are members of one team,” Rev. Perry said. What I heard was: “We are all Christians and some of us are gay.” I suppose Rev. Perry might have been thinking that since he was in Atlanta, he might have used “team” to appeal to football fans. “We are all football fans, Christians and some of us are gay,” might have been another interpretation.

Rev. Perry had other words that struck me as especially meaningful: “[W]e are not born with hate in our hearts – we are taught to hate. So, the big job to be done now is to teach people to love.” How simple and powerful those words were when I heard them. I believe those words by Rev. Perry have changed innumerable hearts and minds.

Perry’s religious leadership, the dramatic founding, and growth of MCC can be seen in the highly inspirational 2007 documentary, “Call Me Troy.” When the documentary was released, I lived in San Francisco where the MCC held a Sunday morning screening of the documentary with Rev. Perry in attendance. He spoke about the making of the documentary, spreading the Gospel to the global LGBTQ community, and living the Christian life as a gay man.

At other times, religious and political, I met Rev. Perry, heard his testimony, and learned from his wisdom. On one occasion, at a rally at San Francisco’s City Hall, Rev. Perry spoke in support of naming San Francisco International Airport in honor of Harvey Milk. Eventually, a terminal at the airport was named in honor of Harvey Milk.

I also visited the MCC Mother Church in Los Angeles. I found it a spirited and welcoming congregation. Rev. Perry was in attendance that Sunday morning. We had clapping, singing, foot stomping, praising, and praying. It was a service to remember.

While in San Francisco, I saw Rev. Perry give impassioned sermons at the Metropolitan Community Church at the Eureka Street address where the exterior of the church is painted pink. He preached about love for his family, love of being gay, and his love of religion.

Based on my experience, hearing meaningful words at the right time in one’s life requires the ability to listen, think, and change. I found Rev. Perry to be the right messenger with the right words at the right time in my life. His conﬁdent leadership, faithful teaching, and energetic preaching are guidance for abundant living. Happy birthday, Rev. Perry. Preach on!

VINCENT SLATT

volunteers as director of archiving at the Rainbow History Project; COLETTE COMBS works as a volunteer there.

A bookstore blocks the street

How Lambda Rising initiated annual Pride events in D.C.

In conjunction with WorldPride 2025, Rainbow History Project is creating an exhibit on the evolution of Pride: “Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington.” This is the third of 10 articles that share our research themes. In “A Bookstore Blocks the Street,” we explore 1975 to 1979 and how the Lambda Rising Bookstore hosted Gay Pride Day Block Parties, initiating the annual Pride events in D.C.

In the years following the 1970 Christopher Street Liberation Day March, many gay Washingtonians traveled to NYC for the annual Pride events. But in 1975, according to Deacon Maccubbin, a friend posed a crucial question: I love going to New York for Pride, but why do we have to go all the way every time? Why don’t we do something here in D.C.? Maccubbin, a local activist, community leader, and the owner of the Lambda Rising bookstore ran with the idea.

With the help of a friend, Bob Carpenter, Maccubbin organized the first annual Gay Pride Day Block Party in front of Lambda Rising: the block of 20th Street, N.W. between R and S streets. The event was intended to both educate and entertain the community. Not a protest nor merely a party, rather, a community building celebration where local gay and lesbian organizations and service providers could do outreach while attendees danced in the streets. The Gay Pride Day Block Party took the revolutionary spirit of New York’s Pride events and incorporated a celebratory and wonkish tone.

The day was cosponsored by the Community Building Association, an umbrella group for the fledgling gay and lesbian organizations operating out of the building. This included Lambda Rising, the Gay Switchboard, the Gay Blade, Gay Youth, and the off our backs women’s newspaper. Gay and lesbian organizations had tables to share information, sell merchandise, and sign up members. This educational and activist tone served to build unity, share resources, and strengthen the awareness of the gay civil rights agenda. The inclusion of educational booths at Pride events has grown into

a mainstay of international Pride activities and rivals the contributions of New York’s march and political rallies, and the vibrant parades of California. Entertainment was provided by local gay bars Pier 9 and the Lost and Found who lent their record collection and coordinated dancing in the street. The soundsystem and audio engineering were provided by Boden Sandstrom and her company Women Sound – the pioneering local women-created and operated audio engineering company that went on to define the sound of the women’s music movement. In 1978, popular lesbian guitarist and singer Casse Culver debuted her song “What are we going to do?” about Anita Bryant’s nationwide attacks on gay rights. Local politics reared its head as well. Council member John Wilson coordinated and presented the first Gay Pride Day resolution in support of the gay and lesbian community. Other Council members denounced the events, tried to block resolutions, and spoke about the “gay shame” being brought on the District. Support of Gay Pride Day resolutions factored into candidate ratings and endorsements by GLAA, the Gertrude Stein Democrats, and other political activists. Even Mayor Marion Barry showed his embrace of the gay community who propelled him to victory in 1978.

“It’s one of those things, like when something’s got to be done, somebody’s got to do it.” Maccubin said about founding Gay Pride Day. Pride Day outgrew 20th Street and later S Street, with attendance increasing from several hundred to between 8,000 to 10,000. Maccubbin therefore handed over the reins of Gay Pride Day to a new community organization: the P Street Festival, Inc.

Our WorldPride 2025 exhibit, “Pickets, Protests, and Parades: The History of Gay Pride in Washington,” centers the voices of the event organizers and includes the critics of Pride and the intersection of Pride and other movements for equal rights and liberation. But we need your help to do that: We are looking for images and input, so look around your attic and get involved.

New Isherwood biography an insightful read

An honest, sympathetic look at proliﬁc writer’s life and work

By CHARLES GREEN

“Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out” is an insightful biography of the proliﬁc English writer, author of “Goodbye to Berlin” (the inspiration behind “Cabaret”), “A Single Man,” and “Christopher and His Kind,” among others. Katherine Bucknell, director of the Christopher Isherwood Foundation, as well as editor of several collections of Isherwood’s diaries and letters, draws on his letters, journals, creative work, and interviews to build an extensive look at this talented writer.

Isherwood was born in 1904 to landed gentry, with properties, a large house, and servants. His father was in the British Army and the family moved around for a while, including a stint in Ireland. His father went to ﬁght in World War I and died in France, leaving his mother to look after Isherwood and his younger brother. This clearly affected Isherwood, although he wouldn’t discuss it until much later. While this section of his childhood is important to Isherwood’s later development, the many details make for slow reading.

The book really picks up when Isherwood travels to Germany in 1929, where he fully embraced his sexuality. In Berlin, he first lived next door to Magnus Hirschfeld’s Institute for Sexual Science, one of the first sexology research centers advocating for decriminalization of homosexuality. Isherwood met many young German men, falling in love with Heinz Neddermeyer, who he tried to help get out of the country as the Nazis gained power. His short novels “Mr. Norris Changes Trains” and “Goodbye to Berlin” are fictionalized versions of the people he met and his experiences there, although they don’t tell

the whole truth about his sexual adventures.

Decades later, as the German translation of “Christopher and His Kind,” a nonﬁction account of Isherwood’s time in Germany, was to appear, Neddermeyer, now with a family, wrote to Isherwood despairing that the book would out him. The translation wouldn’t be published until after Isherwood’s death.

Isherwood emigrated to America with his school friend, the poet W.H. Auden, in 1939. The two collaborated on several plays and covered Japan’s invasion of China, even sleeping together several times. This move, near the start of World War II, plus Isherwood’s paciﬁst refusal to ﬁght, caused bitter feelings with some friends in England.

He settled in Los Angeles where he discovered the Vedanta Hindu-inspired philosophy. He translated the Bhagavad Gita with the religious leader Prabhavananda, who he deeply admired. Although Isherwood struggled to practice all of Vedanta’s teachings, including celibacy, the religion accepted him completely.

He also met Don Bachardy, with whom he’d spend the rest of his life. Thirty years younger than Isherwood, Bachardy shared with Bucknell the challenges in their relationship. While Isherwood encouraged him to study art in England, Bachardy had affairs there, as did Isherwood back in LA. In their letters, Isherwood was “Dobbin” while Bachardy was “Kitty.” Seeing their love grow and develop is one of this book’s pleasures.

Despite the biography’s length and slow start, it reveals an honest yet sympathetic look at Isherwood’s life

By Katherine Bucknell c.2024, Farrar, Straus and Giroux $45 | 864 pages

and work. It should inspire readers to pick up his books, either again or for the ﬁrst time.

‘Christopher Isherwood: Inside Out’

BETSY TWIGG

Associate Broker | Licensed in Virginia 703.967.4391 (CELL )

McEnearney Associates, Inc. REALTORS 4720 Langston Blvd, Arlington, VA 22207 betsytwigg.com Equal Housing Opportunity

Open Houses, Saturday, July 27, and Sunday, July 28, from 1 to 4 pm

5029-27th Street, N. | Arlington VA | 22207 Discovery Williamsburg, Yorktown school pyramid | Offered at $1,749,000

Spacious 5 Bedroom 4 bath home with garage on a wide tree lined street in the Shirley Woods neighborhood. Bright, open floorplan with large rooms, built-ins, interior shutters, wood floors, wainscoting, and fine appointments. Living room flows into the dining room kitchen and family room. A large center island in the kitchen offers a breakfast bar, abundant cabinets, and generous countertops. Doors from the breakfast area open to the large deck and beautifully-landscaped yard and flat play areas. The family room opens to the screened porch adjoining the front porch and provides excellent flow for entertaining. With a full bath and walk in closet off the family room, the large, appealing space could be used for an in-law or pampered guest. Upstairs, the primary bedroom has two walk in closets, seating area and private bathroom with separate vanities, a big shower, and soaking tub. Three more large bedroom share a recently renovated hall bath with double bowl vanity and storages. The laundry room has a large folding space and linen closet. Another linen closet is in the hall. The recently remodeled rec room has recessed lighting, luxury vinyl plank flooring with cork backing. The fifth bedroom and another full bath are on this level along with a large utility and storage room, and a storage room with sink and stairs to the side yard.

Near Lee-Harrison Shopping Center, Chestnut Hill Park, indie restaurants and stores along Langson Blvd. Easy commute to Washington, business, government, and military centers. Good reverse commute to Tysons, Dulles Airport and Techn Corridor.

This light filled home is in pristine, move-in condition and provide exceptional space for gatherings and daily living.

CALENDAR |

Friday, July 26

“Center Aging Friday Tea Time” will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of choice. For more details, email adam@thedccenter.org.

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

Saturday, July 27

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Coffee” at 3 p.m. at Ted’s Bulletin Reston. This event is perfect if you’re looking to make friends and meaningful connections in the LGBTQ community or trying to meet new people. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Metro Queer Market” will be at 11 a.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Attendees will have the opportunity to check out the clothing closet. Clothes, shoes, accessories, and other items will be available. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

Black Lesbian Support Group will be at 11 a.m. on Zoom. Join the DC Center and the Beta Kappa Chapter of the Beta Phi Omega Sorority for a peer-led support group devoted to the joys and challenges of being a Black lesbian. You do not need to be a member of the Beta Kappa Chapter or the Beta Phi Omega Sorority in order to join, but they do ask that you either identify as a lesbian or are questioning that aspect of your identity. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Sunday, July 28

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Dinner” at 6:30 p.m. at Federico Ristorante Italiano Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. Guests are encouraged to come enjoy an evening of Italian-style dining and conversation with other LGBTQ folk. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

AfroCode DC will be at 4 p.m. at Decades DC. This event will be an experience of non-stop music, dancing, and good vibes and a crossover of genres and a fusion of cultures. Tickets cost $40 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Monday, July 29

Center Aging: Monday Coffee & Conversation will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. This is a social hour for older LGBTQ adults. Guests are encouraged to bring a beverage of their choice. For more details, email justin@thedccenter. org.

GoGayDC will host “Out and About in Shirlington LGBTQ Community Happy Hour” at 7 p.m. at Palette 22. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea-sharing, and community building. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Tuesday, July 30

Pride on the Patio Events will host “LGBTQ Social Mixer” at 5:30 p.m. at Showroom. Dress is casual, fancy, or comfortable. Guests are encouraged to bring their most authentic self to chat, laugh, and get a little crazy. Admission is free and more details are on Eventbrite.

Wednesday,

July 31

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 01

Virtual Yoga with Charles M. will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a free weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. For more details, visit the DC Center for the LGBT Community’s website.

OUT & ABOUT

Queer Black Broadway Walking Tour set for Sunday

Off the Mall Tours is partnering with the Rainbow History Project to host “Queer Black Broadway Walking Tour” on Sunday, July 28 at 6 p.m. at 2204 14th St., N.W.

The U Street corridor was known as “Black Broadway” in its heyday in the early 20th century. From the Prohibition Era to the Civil Rights Movement, it was also the center for social justice and fringe movements that fought to bring more opportunity for marginalized groups, including a secretive but active queer community that was associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the Pansy Craze, underground crime worlds, and the wide world of entertainment.

This two-hour walking tour begins at 2204 14th St., and ends at the Howard Theatre, with an option to head to Shaw’s Tavern afterward. A portion of proceeds go to beneﬁt the Rainbow History Project.

Tickets are $30 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Learn how to run for D.C.’s ANC

The LGBTQ Victory Institute, the DC ANC Rainbow Caucus, and Capital Stonewall Democrats are hosting a workshop on Saturday, July 27, from 1-3 p.m. at the John A. Wilson D.C. municipal building at 1350 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., ﬁrst ﬂoor conference room.

This is a free skills-building workshop for LGBTQ community members interested in running as candidates for DC Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats in the Nov. 5 election.

The walking tour ends at the Howard Theatre. (Washington Blade ﬁle photo by Michael Key)

A jubilantly queer ‘Anthem’ for a world beyond borders

A story of human experience that happens to be about LGBTQ people

By JOHN PAUL KING

In a season that has so far failed to deliver the kind of big-ticket Hollywood must-see “prestige” blockbusters we enjoyed with the “Barbenheimer Summer” of 2023, it’s a relief that there is so much under-the-radar indie content out there to ﬁll in the gaps.

That’s especially true, perhaps inevitably, when the story resonates with “minority” populations and is told by someone from among them who shares their longing to see themselves represented on the screen – and the perfect case in point can be found in “National Anthem,” the ﬁrst feature-length work from photographer/ﬁlmmaker Luke Gilford, which is currently enjoying a limited theatrical run a year after an acclaimed debut at 2023’s SXSW Festival in Austin.

Inspired by his photo monograph of the same name, Gilford’s movie takes place in rural New Mexico and centers on 21-year-old Dylan (Charlie Plummer), a day laborer struggling to provide for his alcoholic mother (Robin Lively) and pre-teen brother (Joey DeLeon) while dreaming of escape. Hired for an extended job at a ranch outside town – headquarters for queer rodeo stars Pepe (Rene Rosado) and Sky (Eve Lindley), and home to the diversely gendered commune of pan, poly, and non-conforming “misﬁts” they’ve gathered around them – he is soon drawn into the fold by feelings he’s used to keeping secret. In particular, he has feelings for the beautiful and headstrong Sky, who shares a mutual spark with him despite her loyalty to Pepe. Emboldened by their growing relationship, he begins to revel in the freedom he feels within his newfound community – but even as he tries to bring his two worlds together, mounting tensions in both threaten his newfound sense of liberty with a rude awakening that just might leave him without a place in either.

Expressed in a paragraph, that premise is easily recognizable as a queer coming-ofage story, but there’s something about the ﬁlm’s expansive heart that makes it much more than that. Boiled down to its simplest essence, it’s the kind of narrative – centered on a kind-hearted underdog of a dreamer and charting his path toward transcendence of the obstacles that lie in his way – that has appeal for anyone, queer or straight or anywhere in between. Thanks to Gilford’s compassionate approach to the material, not to mention a savvy grasp of the complex politics of human emotion and a thrillingly open-ended outlook on sexuality and gender that manages to feel more celebratory than it does transgressive, it becomes not just an authentic story about queer experience, but a story about human experience that happens to be about queer people.

Much of how it achieves this is by the way it treats its love story; though it may cover a lot of other angles, “National Anthem” places most of its bets on romance. Indeed, it aims to emulate the passionate tales of love-at-first-sight found in the old-school Hollywood classics we all grew up with, and hits the mark with palpable accuracy despite complicating it with layers of gender, orientation, and pansexual polyamory. Lushly romantic, with as many emotional ups and downs as any tearjerker and a powerfully sexy chemistry that comes through despite the film’s tastefully “PG” presentation of eroticism between characters, it’s as lushly romantic and emotionally engaging as any mainstream Hollywood fantasy. That might even signify a major part of the film’s agenda; if a love story taking place outside the “norm” of cultural conformity can feel so right in a bigscreen fantasy, then why shouldn’t it feel that way when it’s an off-screen reality, too?

Much of the reason it feels so right, of course, has to do with the screenplay (by Gilford with David Largman Murray and Kevin Best), which infuses both Dylan and Sky with relatable layers of feeling and makes them achingly human; but it also hinges on the performers in the roles, and thankfully both are perfectly cast. Plummer, whose performance earned exuberant praise during the ﬁlm’s festival circuit run, wins our hearts from the beginning, conveying a guarded tenderness and sense of longing that never seems forced; but it is when Lindley’s Sky enters the scene that the screen truly lights up with her blend of headstrong self-determination, nurturing patience, and unbridled sexuality. It’s one of the best-written trans roles we’ve seen, focusing not on any suggestion of “otherness” – indeed, her trans identity is never even mentioned, simply left to be self-evident in the most gloriously empowering way possible – but presenting a

fully-ﬂeshed out person having a universal experience, and it’s played by a gifted trans actress whose charisma makes the perfect magnet for Plummer’s puppy-dog adoration. She’s on a journey of her own, and she makes it come to life for us as if she were born to do it.

The film handles its other relationships with equal depth, with Lively giving a deft turn that finds compassion and redemption for the neglectful mother she portrays and an endearingly genuine juvenile performance from newcomer DeLeon. A particular standout is nonbinary actor Mason Alexander Park, whose subtly layered energy as a commune member who becomes both a friend and a “maternal” figure to Dylan brings an important calming presence.

Still, it’s ultimately Gilford who is the star of “National Anthem.” Combining a powerful visual aesthetic – which captures the mythic vastness and Americana of its New Mexico setting while infusing its intimate scenes with a luminous aura of inner light shining through into the world – with an assured sense of the emotional “blueprint” of his narrative, he creates a star-crossed love story for the ages, made all the more powerful by the “outsider” status of its characters. Instead of making them curiosities, he ﬁnds a way to uplift them all, even as they stumble, fall, or fail. He paints a portrait of this queer rodeo “family” that has room to accept everybody, without labels or judgements or conditions beyond basic respect, and it’s beautiful.

That, of course, is where the title comes in. In taking the familiar landscape and tropes of the American Western genre - which, in spite of its modern-day setting and focus on matters of queer identity, “National Anthem” is unquestionably inﬂuenced by – and reinventing them with a queer cast of characters identifying across all the spectrums (and in some cases, multiple spectrums), Gilford’s movie encourages us to say “yes,” to follow our bliss, to take the plunge and explore the things that call to our hearts, and it suggests that, in doing so, we can build the world we want around us as we go. It suggests that, in a world based on comfortable constructs, we can always change those constructs to make things better.

That’s what his characters do, and in so doing become a sort of “nation within a nation,” perhaps, by choosing to live outside the oppressive tide and ﬁnd one’s own “American Dream” – and it’s truly a land of the free and a home of the brave.

That’s a bold message, perhaps, and a timely one in this particular election year.

EVE LINDLEY stars as a trans rodeo queen.

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‘Guncle Abroad’ a perfect summer rom-com read

An entertaining book best for beach, bench, or backyard

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

‘The Guncle Abroad’

By Steven Rowley c.2024, Putnam | $29 | 307 pages

The cake’s going to be magnificent.

You must have tasted 15 different samples and a dozen frostings, and considered five unique looks before settling on a showstopper. Next, you have to get invitations addressed and in the mail. You have to confirm the tuxes. You have to get flowers and centerpieces ordered. As in “The Guncle Abroad” by Steven Rowley,” you have to get everyone on board.

Patrick O’Hara couldn’t believe how his life had changed.

A few short years ago, he was living in Palm Springs, having “retired” from making films. He was in love, happy, and he had temporary custody of his niece, Maisie, and his nephew, Grant. Life was good.

Now? Oh boy. Patrick and Emory had split-ish (Emory was still living in Patrick’s California home), Patrick was living in Manhattan, making a movie in London, looking for another role soon, and the kids were four years older. Maisie was an attitudinal teen now; Grant was nine and too wise for his age.

They weren’t the cuddly kids Patrick once knew – especially since their dad, Patrick’s

brother, Greg, was getting married again and the kids didn’t like Livia, their wealthy socialite stepmom-to-be. Patrick suspected it was because Grant and Maisie still missed their Mom. It hadn’t been all that long since Sara died. Was a new marriage an insult to old memories?

Patrick didn’t think so, and he’d prove it. While Greg and Livia were last-minute wedding-planning, he bought three Eurail passes, one for him and one each for the kids. He’d give them some culture and some new Guncle rules about love. Maybe –was it possible? – he’d even become their favorite GUP again.

But Maisie and Grant had other ideas. They agreed to go on the stupid trip around Europe with their GUP, if Patrick agreed to talk to Greg about calling off the entire wedding. Something old (memories), something new (stepmother), something borrowed (trouble), and something blue (two kids) just had to be undone, and soon.

There’s an old saying, to paraphrase, that if the wedding is perfectly smooth, the marriage won’t be. With this in mind, “The Guncle Abroad” is covered: add a snarky lesbian with an entourage, a tipsy sister on a manhunt, a Lothario who doesn’t speak English, and lost love, all at a lakeside hotel, and yeah, we’re good.

But here’s the thing: author Steven Rowley doesn’t just make readers laugh. We’re covered on that part, too, because the whole pre-wedding scene in this book is pure chaos and LOL funny. Long before that, though, you’ll be charmed by Rowley’s main character and his desperation to stay relevant, to avoid-not-avoid love, and by his efforts to connect with his brother’s kids. And after the not-so-storybook wedding, well, you know how those things are.

Bring tissues, that’s all you need to know.

If you’re in need of a rom-com this summer, just bring the bubbly, pop a cork, and make it this one. Reading “The Guncle Abroad” is best for beach, bench, or backyard.

Loving it? Piece of cake.

Wednesday, Sep 18 & Oct 2

Admission Tour

Lower School: 9 - 10:15a

Middle & Upper School: 11a - 12:15p

Saturday, Oct 19

Fall Admission Program

Lower School: 9 - 10:15a

Middle & Upper School: 11a - 12:15p

Following the program, stay for our annual Fall Festival, 1-4p! Fun for the whole family!

Iconic 18th century Lewes Landmark!

A unique, intimate LGBTQ travel experience

Heart, community, and celebration of queer culture with Brand g

By DANA PICCOLI

(This article originally appeared in News is Out.)

“I feel like I’m in that scene from ‘Under the Tuscan Sun,’” my wife whispered to me as we boarded the Brand g Vacations bus in Bordeaux, France.

She’s not wrong. It does hearken to the scene where Frances Mayes (Diane Lane) takes her best lesbian friend’s place on a queer European adventure. We are seated among a sea of gay men (and two very dedicated lesbian Brand g regulars) on our way from the Intercontinental Hotel Bordeaux to have lunch at the famous Château Smith Haut Lafitte. One of our many excellent guides that week tells us that King Charles III recently paid a visit to the winery. The visit sets the tone for the rest of our Loire Valley River trip – sometimes decadent, often boisterous, but always fun.

Founded in 2011 as “the next generation in gay travel” Brand g Vacations offers an alternative to queer vacation companies that host large cruises and resort trips. If 1,000-person, party-centric cruises aren’t your cup of tea, Brand g offers a more intimate, excursion-heavy option. This proves popular with Brand g’s clientele, many of whom have traveled with the company multiple times.

Brand g’s Director of Marketing Eric Poole tells me that the company’s success lies in four key elements – service, quality, inclusivity, and destinations.

“Our commitment to high-touch service is unparalleled in the industry,” said Poole. “The surveys we receive from guests after each trip routinely point out the extremely high level of personal service and their appreciation of the fact that all they have to do is show up. We will take care of everything else.”

Mark W. from Fort Lauderdale was one of our trip’s 80 or so guests. It’s precisely the service level that Poole mentions that has resulted in Mark booking 17 trips with Brand g. Mark tells me that it’s the door-to-door service and like-minded LGBTQ guests that keep him coming back.

Couple Steve M. and David P. also commend the service they experience with Brand g. Originally on a stateside cruise that was canceled (by the charter company), the couple pivoted and booked a spot on the Loire Valley trip. This was their third Brand G adventure.

For our particular trip, we arrived in Bordeaux and spent the next six days experiencing delightful Loire Val-

ley towns like Nantes, La Rochelle and Clisson. On our visit to Clisson, we stumbled upon the 13th-century town’s Italian-inspired festival, with masked revelers, music and many fellow tourists.

Our trip was led by our host and cruise director Johnathon Gallagher. Hailing from Scotland, Gallagher is a fixture on many Brand g trips. Bawdy and friendly, you can see why Gallagher is such a popular touchpoint for guests. Steve M. and David P. tell me that one of the reasons they booked again was because of Gallagher and how much he had added to their previous trip.

While Gallagher is very entertaining, he wasn’t the only top-notch talent on board. Guests were treated to musical performances by West End star Emma Lindars, accompanied by musical director/composer Tom Knowles. Lindars and Knowles performed everything from disco hits to Broadway ballads, captivating the guests each time. The duo was even kind enough to allow some guests (myself included) to sing a little ourselves.

Also performing to cheering crowds was dynamic Wales-based performer Lee Gilbert. Gilbert, who was previously a guest on a Brand g trip, is now a host and performer after impressing the team with his serious chops.

I asked Poole what Brand g looks for when booking talent for these cruises.

“The ability to blow our guests away; the ability to perform several shows over the course of a cruise and keep an audience engaged with new material at each show; and someone who is a lovely human being.”

Something special about this trip for me, was the opportunity to get to know many of the guests. I tried to sit with different guests for meals and excursions, getting to know groups of people from places like Palm Springs, Fort Lauderdale, and even Melbourne, Australia.

Writing about my experience without noting some important demographics would be impossible. My wife and I were two of four women travelers on my particular trip. We were also some of the youngest travelers on the ship. Brand g was transparent about this when I asked about marketing toward queer women.

“Because we do skew heavily male, we try to attract women travelers who have lots of gay male friends or

who enjoy traveling with a mixed group as opposed to an all-female experience like Olivia. No disrespect to Olivia –there’s a place for all kinds of LGBT+ travel experiences,” said Poole.

“This tends to occur by referral more than through marketing, since we’re seeking a subset of lesbians.”

Poole points out that there are typically more women on Brand g trips, sometimes 15-20 out of a 80-120 person trip.

The guests on Brand g trips also tend to be over 55. On our trip, the average age was about 62.

“By virtue of the fact that our trips are luxury, all-inclusive packages, they will tend to appeal to an older, more affluent demographic, but we are always working to broaden our offerings in order to bring in more guests in their 30s and 40s,” said Poole. “And each trip has a somewhat different makeup based on the destination, length, and cost. Our exotic trips that require more extensive travel to get to the destination, or that feature more physical activity – for example, our trips to Africa, Nepal and Bhutan and Peru – attract a younger clientele. As do our trips that offer luxury at a lower price point, like India, Thailand and Vietnam and Cambodia.”

Sometimes, you can’t control things, like the rising of the Loire River, which kept us docked in Nantes longer than expected and altered some of our plans. However, Brand g did its best to pivot and still offer guests adventures, even if it did mean a lot more bus time than expected.

Our experience with Brand g Vacations was memorable, and personally, the highlight was the dear friends. I now have found family in Palm Springs and Melbourne that I plan to visit. At the core of it all, Brand g offers what most non-LGBTQ-focused vacations can’t—heart, community, and a celebration of LGBTQ+ culture.

Brand g offers a more intimate and immersive alternative to larger, party-focused cruises, making it an excellent choice for LGBTQ+ travelers who value adventure and connection.

Brand g has 24 trips planned for 2025, including adventures in Japan, Australia and Scotland. Check out the full list of trips here.

Setting sail with Brand g Vacations. (Photo by Dana Piccoli)

Barrels of wine await their time to shine at Château Smith Haut Lafitte. (Photo by Dana Piccoli)

NicholasF. Benton

Wh oa , what a week! Those inclined to commenton thenation’s po litica l state ofaffairs hourly or evenmoreoftenon social mediahaveproducedtons andtons ofcontentinjust thelast couple of weekssincethenear-miss attempt onTrump’s life,theunsettling pick forthe GOPv-p candidate, the clownish Republicanconvention,the withdrawal of President Biden and the riseofVice President Kamala Harris.Staytuned, who knows what’s next!

Oncethedust begins to settle, ifever, the Democratswill be confrontinganincrediblechallengebetweennow and Novem-

toHarrissofar havingbeenpure genius, I consider their chances good of buildingmomentum for a landslide wininthe fall,upand down tickets all across the land

Who would haveguessed in advancethat Harriswouldbe so universallyandoverwhelmingly applauded as the potentialnew president?What asupremely well

to hitthe ground running with her candidacy withinminutesof PresidentBiden’s announcement last weekend.

Clearly,behindthescenesthe groundworkforthishadtohave beenlaidforamuchlongerperiod,thoughinthiseraofinstantaneouscommunicationsitwas muchmorepossibletodoiton shortnotice.Somedayacavalcade ofbookswillbewrittenaboutthe backstoriestothisincredibletransitionweekinournation’shistory.

For thetimebeing, I am delighted bythe sudden elevationof Harrisand the prospects for hervictory.

all thepressure on Bidento quit, andwas very pleased whenmy congressman,U.S. Rep.Don Beyer,issuedavideostatement sharingthat view lastSaturdaynight.

Democraticleader fromVirginia had gonethe otherway,aseven

news reports of Sen. Mark Warner callingfor Bidento dropoutwent

appear on any lists of that sortasof last weekend.

IpostedRep.Beyer’sstatementofsupportforBidenonthe FallsChurchNews-Press website theminuteitcamein,andearly SundayItextedBeyertoaskifhe plannedtowriteamorelengthy statementonthesubject.Hesoon replied, “It looks like not, sadly.”ing,butthenewsthenbrokewithin minutesthatBidenannouncedhis withdrawal.“Ah,Isee,”Iwrotecumbedtothegrowingdrumbeat, I added, “How terrible.”

ButbarelyhadI postedthose words thanthe great mobilization of support for Harriswas unleashed, a torrentunending as of this writing, day.Thousandsoffolks, likemyself, contributed nominalamounts justtobein on the surge,tosaywe caughtthe wavetoo, surfer style

It has been areplay of theoptimism andenthusiasm thatattendedthenominationof theBidenHarris team four years ago, which representedaserious chance at knocking outthe worstpresident inthe historyof the U.S., and its subsequent success

Acting super quicklylast weekendto prevent theBiden announcement fromdevolving into a morassof self-doubtand confusion, vulnerabilities that the Trump crowdwould have feasted amplyon,the Democratic leadership (includingBeyer) was clearly preparedto springintoactionveritablyinstantaneously to elevate Harris totheexclusion of anydelay or otheroptions.Within only afew hours,the die was cast

So,suddenlywehavea young woman of colorsoaring onatrajectory tobecome President of the UnitedStates!Of course,asvice president, shehas been justastep away fromthat for all this time, buther role until now had notbeen seen with the gravitas it deserved. Suddenly,Trumpisthe doddering old guy. Suddenlyhe’s the guy incapable ofcompleting asentence or makingany sense atall, actually.

Suddenly,as an articulateand passionate woman, Harrisis the perfectchoicetomaketheelection about women’sreproductive rightsandrespect for immigrants andall persons of color.

If I didn’t

buy when

rates were lower, did I miss my

chance?

Higher interest but lower sales price may be the path now

By JOSEPH HUDSON

“If I didn’t buy a house when the rates were lower, did I miss my chance?” The answer to that question depends on what you consider a “chance.”

Some buyers only want to get a loan at the lowest interest rate possible. “When the money is cheap, that’s the time to get it,” is the thinking. Now that the money is more expensive to get, many are sitting on the sidelines. But what is a missed opportunity to some, may be an opportunity to others. If a house was listed at $350,000 in the year 2020 or 2021, when the average 30-year mortgage rates were closer to 3% or 4%, that could also mean that the demand was higher. In terms of “supply and demand” – whenever the demand goes up for one house, the price of it will go up, too. So, if four people wanted that house in 2021, when they all had lower interest rate quotes from their lenders, then that house may have gotten bid up to closer to $400,000. Since the money was “cheap” – what did it matter if the loan was bigger? Or if the buyer used a combination of more cash and a bigger loan to compete with others and win the bidding process?

But now it’s 2024 and rates are closer to 7%. So maybe a $350,000 house will only get one offer. The money is more expensive, but the home price might be lower. Maybe a buyer will just have to offer the amount the seller is asking to get an accepted offer. Then they can do due diligence as buyers to have it inspected and negotiate any credits or repairs as they navigate toward the closing or settlement date. A higher rate, but a lower sales price may be the opportunity to look for now.

If you are a seller, you may want to consider what you think your home is worth, while looking at the data with your Realtor, and decide to price it not at the higher aspirational price you would love to get, but at the more realistic price you really hope you would get, in order to attract at least one good, solid buyer, who will help carry the whole sale across the ﬁnish line.

These days there is a lot of chatter over the idea of “What do I need a Realtor for if I have the internet and a basic knowledge of DocuSign?” And, as with most things in life, the decision in each circumstance is solely up to the person. However, many buyers have never navigated this process before, or are looking to buy in a new city, or a new part of town they haven’t lived in before. Many sellers remember the last time they bought that could have been 5-10 years ago. Markets change with latest economic indicators, the political cycles, the weather, and many other factors. A solid Realtor has been out in

Interest rates remain high but that doesn’t mean you can’t buy.

the streets with both buyers and sellers, and is hearing what many of them are thinking, THAT WEEK or THAT MONTH. Good Realtors are full of recent market knowledge, negotiation tactics, ideas and creative solutions to typical (and not so typical) snags in the process that could be due to the house itself, tax issues, county or city ordinances and regulations, or a plethora of other details.

A good Realtor also understands the emotions that can get involved in a large transaction such as a home sale. The job of the Realtor can be to help navigate all parties to a successful settlement, while advising on a myriad of issues, utilizing deep listening skills, and offering emotional support, while a buyer and a seller navigate one of the largest, and at times complicated, transactions they may ever have.

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