Washington Blade, Volume 55, Issue 36, September 06, 2024
Anti-LGBTQ activist striking fear into hearts of corporate America, PAGES 12 & 20
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HIPS updates fundraising appeal for purchase of building
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
HIPS, the LGBTQ supportive organization that provides “harm reduction and compassionate services to sex workers, drug users, and the unhoused LGBTQ+ community,” announced on Aug. 26 that that it has raised close to $250,000 of the $350,000 it needs for a down payment to enable it to purchase the building it has operated in for the past eight years at 906 H St., N.E.
The announcement says an earlier deadline for securing the remaining $100,000 it needs has been extended to Sept. 30 to finalize the purchase of the building and ensure its continued operations.
“For 30 years, HIPS has been at the forefront of providing essential services to those most marginalized in our community,” said HIPS Program Director Elizabeth Macintosh in the Aug. 26 announcement.
“This building is not just a place, it is a safe haven where we offer harm reduction, advocacy, and support to over 15,000 individuals annually,” she says in the announcement. “Securing this space will allow us to continue our mission and expand our services to meet the growing needs of our community.”
The announcement ads, “HIPS’s current location has been integral to its operations, offering a stable base for its drop-in services, clinical services, substance use treat-
ment, and a robust mobile services program that operates 24/7.”
In a GoFundMe page set up by HIPS, which says a little over $250,000 had been raised as of Sept. 2, HIPS points out that its rent increased by 30 percent when its building was last sold in 2019.
“With another pending sale – our rent could rise ever more,” a message on the GoFundMe page says. “However, with the purchase of our building our future is in our own hands – and we will actually pay less month to month,” according to the message. “It also protects HIPS and our programs from the future problems with new landlords or ever-increasing rent prices.”
HIPS has not disclosed the purchase price its landlord has set for its building. Online records from the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue, which records the purchase price of all D.C. properties, shows that the HIPS building sold for $2,847,000 in 2019. The records also show that the Office of Tax and Revenue lists the “assessment value” of the building for 2024 at $2,982,230 and at $3,077,640 for 2025.
“HIPS has always been there for the community, and now we are asking the community to be there for HIPS,” Program Director Macintosh said in the statement announcing the updated fundraising appeal. “With your support, we can ensure that HIPS remains a beacon of hope and empowerment for those who need it most,” she said.
The HIPS GoFundMe site by Bo Belotti can be accessed at GoFundMe.com.
Md. Legislative LGBTQ+ Caucus slams Hogan’s record
Former Maryland governor faces competitive race for U.S. Senate
By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com
Five Democratic lawmakers of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing a majority of the state’s nine-member legislative LGBTQ caucus, issued a statement on Friday criticizing Republican former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan’s record on LGBTQ rights.
Hogan is currently running against Angela Alsobrooks, the Democratic county executive of Prince George’s County, to represent Maryland in one of the most closely watched U.S. Senate races of the 2024 election cycle.
Over the course of his two-term, eight-year tenure as governor, “Hogan has made it clear that he is not an ally for the LGBTQ+ community,” the Maryland legislators wrote in their statement, per an advance copy previewed by the Washington Blade last week.
The authors, out state Dels. Kris Fair, Anne Kaiser, Joe Vogel, Ashanti Martinez, and Bonnie Cullison, also objected in their statement to the “dismissive” manner in which Hogan addressed criticism of his governing record vis-a-vis LGBTQ rights, as witnessed during a recent virtual town hall event organized by his Senate campaign.
The exchange, which was first reported by the Advocate on Saturday, was kicked off when a caller said, “I am a gay Marylander, and I’m very aware that as an ex-governor, there were many LGBTQ rights bills that passed without your signature, including laws that outlawed the LGBTQ panic defense.”
Other examples of pro-LGBTQ legislation that Hogan declined to sign after they were passed by the state house’s Democratic majority include a measure expanding hate crimes protections to cover victims who are targeted over their gender identity, an LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination bill focused on medical providers and facilities, and a proposal to establish gender identity as a protected characteristic under Maryland law. The governor did, however, manage to sign a ban on medical interventions for transgender youth.
Hogan responded to the caller first by arguing the issue was moot because each of the bills is now law, and then by denying that he ever opposed them, and then by pleading ignorance: “Bills passed, and they became law, and I did not oppose them, and so I don’t know exactly which bills you’re referring to or when they passed.”
In their statement, the delegates said the former governor’s answer was not just “an overt over-simplification of the meaning behind refusing to sign legislation” but also “shameful and a slap in the face to our community.”
“This is why it is critical that we protect the Democratic majority in the Senate by electing Angela Alsobrooks this November,” they wrote. “If Republicans get a majority in the Senate they will continue to not only ignore the needs of our community, but could roll back the protections we fought so hard for.”
Criticism of Hogan’s track record on LGBTQ rights predates his time in the governor’s mansion. For example, during his 2014 gubernatorial campaign, he came out against a trans-inclusive bill prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations.
As Axios reported in May, the messaging strategy deployed by Hogan’s Democratic opponents has focused to a significant extent on chipping away at the Republican candidate’s reputation as a political moderate — which, to some extent, is buttressed by his public disagreements with Donald Trump, including over some of the hardline immigration policies that came out of his administration.
Along with their efforts to draw attention to Hogan’s record on LGBTQ rights, Democrats have sought to highlight right-wing actions and positions he has taken on other matters, such as issues involving reproductive freedom — again, in hopes of sowing doubt among voters about the Republican’s centrist bonafides.
For example, the Maryland Democratic Party has pointed to the former governor’s decision to veto measures that were designed to expand access to abortion as well as his refusal to release funding that would have been used to train abortion providers in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the protections established with Roe v. Wade in 1973.
HIPS has operated for the past eight years at 906 H St., N.E. (Blade photo by Lou Chibbaro, Jr.)
Former Maryland Gov. LARRY HOGAN (Photo courtesy of Hogan’s campaign)
Va. lawmakers Roem, Ebbin, Henson headline
Out for Harris party
Event held at Freddie’s Beach Bar in Arlington
By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com
ARLINGTON, Va. — LGBTQ Democratic Virginia state legislators Danica Roem, Adam Ebbin, and Rozia Henson headlined an Out for Harris coalition launch party on Thursday at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant in Arlington, Va.
Following remarks by Freddie Lutz, owner and namesake of the landmark 23-yearold LGBTQ establishment, the speakers highlighted Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s extensive track records of advancing LGBTQ rights while also stressing the urgency of get-out-the-vote efforts with just a few weeks remaining before early ballots will be cast in Virginia.
The lawmakers also shared reflections on their time as LGBTQ officeholders who each has made history with their elected positions: Roem, as the country’s first transgender state legislator, Ebbin, as the first LGBTQ representative in the Virginia house of Delegates, and Henson, as the Virginia General Assembly’s first gay Black man.
“A historic first is first but not the last,” Roem said, adding that these wins often come with challenges, too — as Ebbin, her colleague in the state senate, experienced in the time between his groundbreaking election in 2003 and the LGBTQ representation seen in the state house today, with a total of nine out lawmakers now comprising Virginia’s LGBTQ legislative caucus.
“When you put yourself out there, you wonder at what point the reinforcements are going to arrive,” she said, adding, with a smirk, “or if the closeted members who you’re serving with would just come out already.”
Roem then shared her own coming out journey, starting with her coming of age in Northern Virginia. Freddie’s was the only spot that welcomed LGBTQ young people in the ’90s and 2000s, she said, and “the first place that I felt safe to be out in public as her.”
Later, in 2004, Roem explained how she was venturing out with her hair swept across her face because, at the time, she thought, “I don’t want to be recognized; I don’t want anyone to know.” Meanwhile, Roem said, “across the country, there was a newly elected district attorney” who learned the mayor of San Francisco had blessed same-sex marriage and volunteered herself to help however she could.
Kamala Harris officiated some of the first gay and lesbian weddings, “putting herself right out there,” Roem said — stressing that John Kerry and John Edwards, the Democratic Party’s 2004 presidential ticket, were opposed to same-sex marriage, as was the rest of the party.
However, she said, “For those folks in elected office who put themselves out there, people like Kamala Harris did it 20 years ago, not because it was politically popular. Prop 8 would pass four years later. Not because it was convenient, but because it was right.”
After she became a state legislator, Roem first met Harris, then a U.S. senator, at a Human Rights Campaign event, and “she tells me, hey, just remember, keep shoulders down, chin up, and remember you are exactly where you’re meant to be.”
“Five years later,” Roem said, “I’m exactly where I’m meant to be, because I’m here with y’all at Freddie’s, and this face is not being hidden by my hair unless I am head-banging” to heavy metal music “because I am not going back.”
“We are not going back,” she added, “and we sure as hell are not going back to a time when the Trump administration was kicking transgender military members out of the service, banning trans troops who displayed more courage and sense of self of service than their then- commander-in-chief ever has or ever could.”
“And now, on the ballot this fall, we have friends,” Roem said. “We aren’t where we were 20 years ago, where we’re having to vote strategically; we have our allies on the ballot for president and vice president this fall, with Vice President Harris and with Governor Walz.”
Ebbin began his remarks by acknowledging the “large number of LGBTQ appointees in the administration” who were in attendance in their personal capacity. “I want to thank them for their work every day,” he said.
“When I first ran for office 21 years ago, we were not nearly as visible, we were not nearly as organized, and above all, we didn’t have leaders who always had our backs,” Ebbin said. “There were no other LGBT people in the General Assembly building when I got there, and now, with the help of Delegate Henson, we have a nine-member LGBTQ caucus.”
“You can understand why, as a Virginian, I feel passionately about Kamala Harris and Tim Walz,” he said. “They will carry our pro-LGBT Virginia values not just across the country, but all the way to the White House.”
During Ebbin’s remarks, an audience member interrupted with questions about the U.S. Senate Democrats who voted for the National Defense Authorization Act despite the funding package’s inclusion of anti-LGBTQ riders, and the Kids Online Safety Act,
legislation sponsored by U.S. Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.).
He replied, “I’m in the Virginia Senate. I’m going to not do questions right now,” offering to talk after he stepped off the stage. The heckler persisted, raising that $30 billion was allocated for weapons, likely a reference to the supply of arms to Ukraine, when Ebbin said, “I’m not in the U.S. Senate.”
Ebbin continued, “before any state in the union legalized gay marriage, San Francisco D.A. Kamala Harris took the bold step of officiating LGBT weddings back in early 2004 — and keep in mind, this was at a time when here in Virginia, we’re fighting off some horrific” legislation including efforts to ban adoption by same-sex parents and the formation of gay-straight alliance clubs in schools, which were ultimately defeated.
“Over Kamala Harris’s entire career, she’s been a national leader for LGBTQ rights,” Ebbin said. “She marched in Pride parades not just in San Francisco, but as a U.S. senator and as vice president of the United States, several times, and that is powerful.”
“And then when we turn to her running mate, in 1999, Tim Walz was a teacher and a football coach at Mankato West High School, and he stepped up to advise the Gay Straight Alliance to protect gay kids from being bullied,” Ebbin said.
Walz was “there for high school kids in a red rural place, and in 2006, when he stepped up to run for Congress, he was advised not to pick a position on gay marriage, but he stepped up and he did,” he said. “He was there for us. Then on the flip side, we look at Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, who’ve not only shown us who they are but they’ve written a whole playbook, Project 2025, which is one of the most anti-LGBTQ agendas ever published.”
Ebbin added, “as Maya Angelou reminded us, “the Republican ticket is telling us exactly who they are. So, we should believe them and make sure our friends and neighbors believe them.”
The state senator was also heckled by pro-Palestine protesters who were kicked out for the disruption.
Henson began his brief remarks by telling the audience, “my job here is just to make sure we emphasize the importance of you organizing together, getting in your community, hosting teas, hosting events just like this, in order to make sure we get Kamala Harris to the White House.”
“Without you all setting the expectations and doing the groundwork, I probably would not have been the first openly gay Black state representative,” he said.
Henson thanked Ebbin for his mentorship and friendship, and for his leadership as the first out member of the Virginia General Assembly in its 400-year history. Introducing the state senator, Henson added that but for his help and guidance, “marriage equality would not be in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Virginia State Sen. DANICA ROEM (D) speaks at the Out for Harris Coalition Launch Party at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant in Arlington, Va., on Thursday. (Blade photo by Christopher Kane)
Suspect shatters window next to entrance door at HRC building D.C. police
report says incident not listed as hate crime
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com
An unidentified male suspect on Aug. 4 threw a baseball-sized rock into a large glass window located next to the main entrance door of the Human Rights Campaign’s headquarters building at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W., according to a D.C. police report.
The report, which lists the incident as a misdemeanor crime of Destruction of Property, provides a description of the suspect but does not say whether anyone witnessed him breaking the window. It says police received a call for the destruction of property at the eight-story tall HRC building at approximately 2:15 a.m.
“At 0212 hours [2:12 a.m.], Suspect 1 approached the outside perimeter of 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW at the Human Rights Campaign building and threw a baseball sized rock at a window next to the door to the building,” the police report says. “The window received significant damage causing multiple cracks from the base of the window to the top of the window,” it says.
“Suspect 1 then walked away from the location heading eastbound on Rhode Island Avenue NW wearing a white t-shirt, tan baseball cap, black pants, black and white shoes while carrying a dark colored bookbag,” the report concludes.
D.C. police reports for this type of crime almost always state whether one or more witnesses were present at the time the crime was committed. The fact that no witnesses are mentioned in the report while a detailed description
of the suspect is given suggests that police had access to a video recording of the incident taken by a security camera on or near the HRC building.
The report also states that the incident has not been
classified as a suspected hate crime.
In response to a Blade inquiry, D.C. police spokesperson Paris Lewbel said he was reaching out to police officials who know something about the incident, but he did not provide additional information as of Wednesday morning, Sept. 4.
In response to a request by the Blade for comment from HRC, including whether HRC provided police with video footage of the incident, HRC spokesperson Jarred Keller said he was reaching out to HRC officials for information about the incident. But he also did not provide a response as of Wednesday morning.
The Blade learned about the HRC window-breaking incident a little over a week ago, more than two weeks after it happened on Aug. 4, through a tip from an HRC volunteer.
On its website HRC says its headquarters building, which first opened in 2003, “provides ample workspace for HRC’s staff of more than 150,” also houses HRC’s Equality Center, a meeting and event space available for rent, as well as the HRC Media Center, a multimedia production facility.
“This building is an important symbol for all who visit the nation’s capital – a constant reminder to our LGBTQ+ community, as well as anti-LGBTQ+ activists, that HRC will not stop until the LGBTQ+ community is ensured equality,” a statement on the website says.
164 members of Congress urge Supreme Court to protect trans rights
A group of 164 members of Congress filed an amicus brief on Tuesday urging the U.S. Supreme Court to defend transgender Americans’ access to medically necessary healthcare as the justices prepare to hear oral arguments this fall in U.S. v. Skrmetti.
Lawmakers who issued the 27-page brief include House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.) House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (Mass.), House Democratic Caucus Chairman Pete Aguilar (Calif.), U.S. Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Congressional Equality Caucus Chair U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), along with the caucus’s 8 co-chairs and 25 vice-chairs. Ranking members of the powerful House Judiciary and House Ways and Means Committees, U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Frank Pallone Jr. (D-N.J.), were also among the signatories.
The case, among the most closely watched this term, will determine whether Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors, along with a similar law passed in Kentucky, violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
In their brief, the lawmakers urge the Supreme Court to treat with skepticism “legislation banning safe and effective therapies that comport with the standard of care” and to examine the role of “animosity towards transgender people” in states’ gender affirming care bans.
“Decisions about healthcare belong to patients, their doctors, and their families—not politicians,” Pocan said. “The law at issue in this case is motivated by an ani -
mus towards the trans community and is part of a cruel, coordinated attack on trans rights by anti-equality extremists. We strongly urge the Supreme Court to uphold the constitution’s promise of equal protection under the law and strike down Tennessee’s harmful ban.”
“For years, far-right Republicans have been leading constant, relentless, and escalating attacks on transgender Americans. Their age-old, discriminatory playbook now threatens access to lifesaving, gender-affirming care for more than 100,000 transgender and nonbinary children living in states with these bans if the Supreme Court uphold laws like Tennessee’s at the heart of Skrmetti fueled by ignorance and hate,” Markey said.
“Transgender people deserve the same access to healthcare as everyone else,” said Nadler. “There is no constitutionally sound justification to strip from families with transgender children, and their doctors, the decision to seek medical care and give it to politicians sitting in the state capitol. I trust parents, not politicians, to decide what is best for their transgender children.”
Pallone warned that if Tennessee’s ban, S.B. 1, is “allowed to stand, it will establish a dangerous precedent that will open the floodgates to further discrimination against transgender Americans.”
“Unending attacks from MAGA extremists across the nation are putting trans youth at risk with hateful laws to ban gender-affirming care,” said Merkley author of the Equality Act. “Let’s get politicians—who have no expertise in making decisions for patients—out of the
exam room. The Court must reject these divisive policies, and Congress must pass the Equality Act to fully realize a more equal and just union for all.”
Also filing an amicus brief on Tuesday was the Gender Research Advisory Council + Education (GRACE), a transgender-led nonprofit that wrote, in a press release, “Skrmetti is critically important to the transgender community because approximately 40% of trans youth live in the 25 states that have enacted such bans.”
The group argued laws like Tennessee’s S.B. 1 are cruel, discriminatory, and contradict “the position of every major medical association that such treatments are safe, effective and medically necessary for adolescents suffering from gender dysphoria.”
GRACE’s brief includes 28 families “who hope to share with the Court that they are responsible, committed parents from a variety of backgrounds who have successfully navigated their adolescent’s transition.”
“These parents sought medical expertise for their children with diligence regarding the best care available and input from experienced physicians and mental health professionals and they have seen firsthand the profound benefits of providing medically appropriate care to their transgender children,” said GRACE Board Member and brief co-author Sean Madden.
Left unchecked, this may start with the transgender community, but it certainly won’t end there,” added GRACE President Alaina Kupec. “Next it could be treatments for HIV or cancer.”
CHRISTOPHER KANE
The Human Rights Campaign’s headquarters building is located at 1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Ford to scale back DEI policies amid right-wing pressure
Months after withdrawing from external corporate culture surveys such as those administered by the Human Rights Campaign, Ford Motor Company will scale back internal policies on diversity, equity, and inclusion, according to a memo from the company’s CEO Jim Farley.
The move, which follows similar decisions by other publicly traded corporations like home improvement retailer Lowe’s and motorcycle maker Harley Davidson, marks a decisive shift in the automaker’s approach to workplace culture.
Ford has long earned top marks in external ranking systems that measure firms’ commitments to inclusion by evaluating their corporate policies, practices, and benefits with respect to gender equity, LGBTQ equality, disability, and other metrics.
The contents of Farley’s memo were first reported on Wednesday when the document was leaked to Reuters by conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has campaigned against DEI programs as well as corporate participation in LGBTQ events and the issuance of public statements concerning — or the deployment of business strategies to address — matters from climate change to systemic racism.
The Hollywood music video director-turned-anti-woke crusader claimed credit, at least to some extent, for Ford’s decision, writing that the company “fears” him. “We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies,” he said in a post on X. HRC on Wednesday slammed the automaker’s announcement in a press release arguing that the company’s profits and employee retention numbers will be ultimately harmed by the rescission of its DEI policies.
“Today, Ford Motor Company abandoned its commitment to hundreds of thousands of employees by cowering to internet troll Robby Starbuck, and signaling that inclusion and other core values are no longer a
priority in the workplace,” the group’s president Kelley Robinson said.
Noting the company’s reputation for prioritizing inclusion, she said HRC “could not be more disappointed to see Ford Motor Company shirking its responsibility to its employees, consumers, and shareholders.”
“By failing to support women leaders, employees of color, and LGBTQ+ employees, Ford Motor Company is abandoning its financial duty to recruit and keep top talent from across the full talent pool,” Robinson said, adding, “in making their purchasing decisions, consumers should take note that Ford Motor Company has abandoned its commitment to our communities.”
Her statement again took aim at Starbuck, calling him a “MAGA bully and Republican-reject” whose “only business experience is hawking vitamins marketed by people profiting off of COVID disinformation.”
The activist, Robinson said, “is so extreme that the Tennessee Republican Party sought to distance itself from him,” an apparent reference to his failed 2022 bid to represent the state as a write-in candidate.
“Hastily abandoning efforts that ensure fair, safe, and inclusive work environments is bad for business and leaves Ford’s employees and millions of LGBTQ+-allied consumers behind,” she said. “With nearly 30% of Gen Z identifying as LGBTQ+ and the community wielding $1.4 trillion in spending power, retreating from these principles undermines both consumer trust and employee success.”
HRC’s press release also notes that Starbuck has urged companies to “remove themselves” from the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, even though every Fortune 500 company is ranked in the survey regardless of whether they participate (by sharing the information and data on which the ranking is based).
CHRISTOPHER KANE
Trump attacks trans rights at Moms for Liberty Summit
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump recycled right-wing anti-trans talking points, in many cases with statements that were false or misleading, during a discussion with Moms for Liberty Co-Founder Tiffany Justice at the group’s summit in Washington, D.C. on Friday.
They did not address specific anti-trans policies Trump promised to enact if he is elected in November, which would include sweeping restrictions of the rights of, especially, transgender youth, including through heavy-handed government intervention in healthcare and education.
Nor did Trump say much about his opponents’ positions or records on trans issues, apart from a remark about how Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic 2024 nominee, might “flip-flop” on the issue, a charge that his campaign has often leveled against her.
Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz have strong records of expanding freedoms and protections for the trans and LGBTQ communities, in many cases long before taking those actions or positions would have conferred any political advantage.
Trump did not directly address a question from Justice about Walz’s move as governor to install feminine hygiene products in all of the state’s public school restrooms and facilities. Shortly after Harris chose him s her vice presidential nominee on Aug. 8, conservative opponents have sought to attack him on this basis, using the nickname “tampon Tim.”
Formed in 2021 to push back against Covid-era mask mandates and other school policies, Moms for Liberty has since shifted its focus almost entirely to curbing the rights of LGBTQ students, teachers, and staff as well as banning educational materials, books, and classroom discussion addressing matters of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The group, considered an anti-LGBTQ extremist organization by the Southern Poverty Law Center, is closely allied with the Republican Party and staunchly supportive of Trump.
The bulk of Trump’s remarks during his conversation with Justice, however, addressed unrelated topics ranging from foreign policy to reality television programs.
However, the anti-trans rhetoric used by Trump was extreme. For instance, he repeated a debunked conspiracy theory that Algerian boxer Imane Khelif is transgender, a lie that was spread following her victory over Italy’s Angela Carini during the 2024 Olympic Games.
Later, he suggested without any evidence that children are going off to school and coming home a few days later having had “an operation” to change their gender without the knowledge or consent of their parents.
CHRISTOPHER KANE
Conservative activist ROBBY STARBUCK has campaigned against DEI programs.
DONALD TRUMP speaks with Moms for Liberty co-founder TIFFANY JUSTICE at the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors Summit ‘24 in D.C. (Screen shot via PBS Newshour/YouTube)
Gay Israeli man’s relative among six hostages killed in Gaza
The Israeli government on Sunday announced a gay man’s sister-in-law and five other hostages were killed in the Gaza Strip before they could be rescued.
The Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry in a press release said members of the Israel Defense Forces on Saturday “located” Carmel Gat’s body. The IDF also found the bodies of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Ori Danino, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Eden Yerushalmi.
The Associated Press said IDF forces found the bodies in a tunnel underneath Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that borders Egypt. Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, reported Israeli officials said the hostages “were shot at close range” by Hamas militants on Aug. 29 or Aug. 30.
“This is a difficult day for us,” said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a video message. “Together with all citizens of Israel, I was outraged to the depths of my soul by the horrific, cold-blooded murder of six of our hostages.”
“I say to the Hamas terrorists who murdered our hostages and I say to their leaders: You will pay the price,” he added. “We will not rest, nor will be silent. We will pursue you, we will find you, and we will settle accounts with you.”
Gat was visiting her parents in Be’eri, a kibbutz that is near the border of Israel and Gaza, on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack against southern Israel from the Palestinian enclave it governs.
Hamas militants killed Gat’s parents.
They kidnapped Gat and her sister-in-law, Yarden Roman, and brought them to Gaza. Roman’s husband, Alon Gat, with their young daughter, Geffen, jumped out of the car in which the militants had placed them and escaped before it drove into Gaza. Hamas, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization, released Roman on Nov. 29, 2023.
The Jerusalem Post reported Carmel Gat, an occupational therapist, while in Gaza taught other hostages yoga and meditation to help them endure their captivity. Her brother-in-law, Gili Roman, a teacher who is a member of Israel’s Nemos LGBTQ+ Swimming Club, included a broken heart emoji in a brief email exchange
with the Washington Blade on Sunday.
The Israeli government says Hamas militants killed roughly 1,200 people on Oct. 7, including upwards of 370 partygoers and others at an all-night music festival in Re’im, a kibbutz that is a few miles southwest of Be’eri. Carmel Gat was one of the upwards of 250 people who Hamas militants took hostage.
The Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry says more than 40,000 people have died in the enclave since the war began.
The Washington Post reported an 11-month-old boy in Gaza contracted polio last month, and there are several other suspected cases. UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, and the World Health Organization on Sunday began a mass polio vaccination campaign.
Hezbollah, which the U.S. and Israel have designated a terrorist organization, has launched rockets from Lebanon into northern Israel. The Houthis have also launched rockets towards Israel and have attacked commercial ships in the Red Sea.
Iran, which backs the Houthis and Hezbollah, on April 13 launched a drone and missile attack against Israel in response to a suspected Israeli air strike killed two Iranian generals in Damascus, Syria.
An Israeli air strike on July 30 in Beirut killed a senior Hezbollah commander. A suspected Israeli strike in Tehran, Iran, the following day killed Ismail Haniyah, Hamas’s top political leader.
Goldberg-Polin’s parents, Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg, spoke at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 21.
Hundreds of thousands of people on Sunday took to the streets of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and other cities and towns across Israel to demand Netanyahu agree to a ceasefire that would secure the remaining hostages’ release.
Carmel Gat’s family in a statement to the Jerusalem Post on Sunday said it refused to meet with Netanyahu.
“We have no interest in speaking with the person responsible for Carmel’s death or in being part of his media
circus,” said the family. “We will not allow him to use us as justification or legitimacy for the murder of the next hostage. The blood of the hostages is on his hands.”
“We did not do enough to save our Carmel,” it added. “We ask that for the memory of Carmel and for the rescue of the hostages still in captivity — take to the streets and shut down the country until everyone comes home.”
A Wider Bridge in an email it sent to supporters on Sunday said “the horrifying news of the Hamas murder of six hostages — Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Alexander Lobanov, Almog Sarusi, and Eden Yerushalmi — cuts deep.”
“In a sense, they are all our family,” reads the email. “The six were found executed in a tunnel in Rafah as their rescue was becoming a possibility.”
A Wider Bridge said it also “came to know Hersh through his parents’ advocacy, which brought his story and the plight of all the hostages to millions.” The email also notes A Wider Bridge “has also grown close to the family of Carmel Gat” since Oct. 7.
“She was stolen from Kibbutz Be’eri along with her sister-in-law, Yarden,” said A Wider Bridge. “Yarden’s brothers, Gili and Nili, are gay men active in the Israeli LGBTQ community and involved in the hostage families group. They have spoken with our community on several AWB programs. We exhaled a little when Yarden was released from the hellscape in which her cousin remained, and we are devastated by their pain today at the execution of Carmel.”
MICHAEL K. LAVERS
Australia reverses decision to nix census question about LGBTQ status
After a decision not to ask questions about LGBTQ status in the national census sparked widespread backlash, the Australian government has flipflopped and will ask a single question about “sexual preference” on the 2026 survey.
Australia’s governing Labor Party, which has been in power since 2022, had pledged to count LGBTIQ+ people in the national census in its 2023 party manifesto.
But last week, the Australian Bureau of Statistics announced that testing of the voluntary questions it was developing on sexual orientation, gender identity, and intersex status would not go forward, as the government had decided not to include.
That sparked criticism from prominent LGBTQ activists and rights organizations, as well as the country’s sex discrimination commissioner, and a Labor cabinet minister from Victoria state.
“Put simply — all LGBTIQA+ people deserve recognition. Equality means not leaving anyone behind, but if you don’t count us, we don’t count,” says Harriet Shing,
Victoria’s minister for equality.
The government took another blow when six of its own MPs openly criticized the decision.
There were even calls to exclude the prime minister from the Sydney Mardi Gras festival over the census and a previous broken promise to close a legal loophole allowing religious schools to discriminate against LGBT teachers and students.
“[Prime Minister Anthony] Albanese says he wants to promote social cohesion and prevent division, but by pushing LGBTIQA+ Australians back into the statistical closet he is doing exactly the opposite,” says Rodney Croome, a spokesperson for Just.Equal Australia.
“Our communities will continue to feel invisible and demeaned because the federal government hasn’t taken this opportunity to finally reflect the diversity of Australia and gather crucial information about the kinds of services people need,” Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown says.
On Friday, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that the government was working with ABS to
include a single question on sexuality in the census and distanced himself from the decision-making process behind the original announcement.
“We want to make sure that everyone is valued regardless of their gender, their race, their faith, their sexual orientation. We value every Australian and we’ll work with the ABS,” Albanese says.
But some activists not that a single question on sexuality will still leave certain segments of the LGBTIQ+ community uncounted. The survey won’t ask about transgender or intersex status.
“Trans and gender diverse people and those with innate variations of sex characteristics deserve to be recognised as much as anyone else,” Brown said in a statement.
ABS is continuing to develop the survey, so final phrasing of the question, as well as its ultimate inclusion, remains to be seen. The draft question has not been released.
ROB SALERNO
CARMEL GAT (Photo courtesy of the Roman-Gat family)
BRIAN DOOLEY is senior adviser for Human Rights First.
NGOs supporting LGBTQ community losing staff to war effort
Ukrainian men are being pulled away from vital humanitarian work and drafted into the military under new conscription laws, according to local activists.
One huge challenge facing Ukraine’s war effort is a shortage of conscripts. Kyiv hopes new laws passed in April 2024 aimed at recruiting many more soldiers will help it get on the front foot militarily, particularly after a fresh wave of attacks from Russia in May 2024 in the northeast.
Vasyl Malikov is the Kharkiv coordinator of Alliance.Global northeastern Ukraine. The NGO provides a wide range of services to the LGBTQ community in the Kharkiv region, including HIV prevention and testing, psychosocial help, medical, and humanitarian aid.
He told me that most of the men who work with the organization to provide these services as well as their volunteers are liable to be called up for military service under the new conscription drive.
Russian invasions of Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 have resulted in a protracted war being fought along a front line stretching over several hundred miles. In August 2024 Ukraine opened a new line of attack when it pushed into Russia’s Kursk region, with reports estimating Ukraine could commit as many as 10,000 troops to the attack. Despite the widespread use of new technology on the battlefield, much of the war is being fought by more traditional means, with large numbers of soldiers armed with rifles defending the country from trenches.
The new laws aim to reinforce Ukraine’s tiring military and lower the age of conscription from 27 to 25, although volunteers over 18 are still accepted.
Ukraine has for a decade been successfully pressing the United States government and leaders in Europe for weapons to defend itself against Russian aggression, but having enough soldiers to use them is a significant challenge.
An initial target of conscripting 450,000 to 500,000 new recruits has been lowered, but it is not clear what the new number is. I’ve been regularly reporting from the front line in and around Kharkiv, the country’s second biggest city, over the last two years, and it’s obvious that Ukraine’s military is running short of personnel.
Malikov says some of the men who work with Alliance.Global have already been called into the army, and are hard to replace. “Good international practice is that many of the services we provide to LGBTQ people are best done by social workers and volunteers who come from the communities they serve (peer-to-peer),” he said.
“We do an enormous amount of work providing vital social and other support to gay men and bisexual men in and around Kharkiv. Trust is important in the outreach to these communities, and if men from our team are taken for the army you can’t just get anyone to replace them. These are experienced professionals, committed to this work.”
A few of the Alliance.Global team are exempt from the military draft on medical grounds, or for some other reason. Malikov is himself currently exempt because he is also a university professor, but this academic certificate has to be renewed every three months - a long bureaucratic process, he says, which can involve him queueing for five hours at a time.
This new challenge comes as the country’s LGBTQ community confronts a halt to progress on legislation to introduce same-sex civil partnerships, despite more than 70 percent of Ukrainians polled saying that LGBTQ people should have the same rights as other citizens. This is a huge improvement from 2010 attitudes, when only 28 percent of Ukrainians thought that “gay men and lesbians should be free to live their lives as they wish.”
Yet, as Bogdan Globa, president and co-founder of QUA – LGBTQ Ukrainians in America, notes, “thousands of LGBTQI+ are serving in the army with a civilian partner back at home. For straight couples, if something happens with a military partner (wounded or killed), a civilian partner will obtain a variety of government benefits, from cash support to housing. In the case of same-sex couples, they are invisible to the government and have no help or recognition. A civilian person has no right to even bury their partner’s body.”
Malikov says, “any Ukrainian man could find himself in the military in a matter of weeks from now, because it’s a civic duty of Ukrainian men during wartime, including any number of the 80 or more men who are part of the Alliance.Global network.”
The new recruitment drive presents new tests for his work in Kharkiv. “It makes things very difficult to plan. We don’t know who will be called up, or when, and it’s another layer of unpredictability to an already uncertain future,” he says.
For more, see Human Rights First’s new report, “New Recruits: Ukraine’s Military Conscription Laws Threaten Humanitarian Efforts,” written by Maya Fernandez-Powell and myself.
PETER ROSENSTEIN
is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
There is no historical comparison to this election
Our futures are at stake so urge your family, friends to vote Harris
It is time those who keep trying to compare this election to previous elections to recognize there is no comparison. There has never been a sitting vice president running against a disgraced former president, who lost the last time he ran. There has never been an African American/Asian American woman, running for president as a major party nominee. There has never been a candidate who replaced the original candidate of a major party on the ticket, with only three months until the election.
There also has never in recent years been such a unified Democratic Party, running against not a political party, but a cult. There has never been a major party candidate running for president held liable for sexual assault and convicted of 34 felonies. There has never been a time when a woman’s right to control her own healthcare has been taken away after being considered a constitutional right for nearly 50 years. There has never been a time when a woman’s right to an abortion has been on so many state ballots. And there has never been a candidate who rants regularly on his social media platform, mostly inane nonsense, at the same time his running mate tells a sitting vice president to ‘go to hell,’ in response to something she never even said. We have never had a candidate for vice president who has in essence told women without children they are useless. The total lack of class of the MAGA Republican ticket is also something we have never seen before. So to all those like the MAGA Republican Marc Theissen, who writes in the Washington Post, saying he can compare this election to previous ones, they might want to take the time to read some history.
2025. It will be decided by those who understand what additional rights will be taken away if Trump is able to appoint more judges with lifetime terms to the Supreme Court, and other federal courts.
With all this at stake we still don’t know how people will vote. But I have confidence in the American people, and believe Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will win. But I also know for that to happen, they will need everyone who supports them to be out and working hard, whether raising money, knocking on doors, or talking to family and friends to get them to vote. That last one can really have the greatest impact over the next two months.
each person for a commitment to vote. Then you must help them understand why their vote is so important. Explain to them they are not only
does anyone else. From what we have seen in recent
What’s clear is we don’t know who will win this election. We don’t know how many Americans there are who would choose to vote for a once defeated former president, convicted felon, who tried to stage a coup to remain in office. Yes, he could win even if that were to seem like an alternate reality. Unfortunately, with today’s divided electorate, we can surmise what the result in 43 states will be. It is only in seven states that there is some doubt about the result. I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don’t, and neither does anyone else. From what we have seen in recent years, polling is not an accurate predictor.
There are the types of issues in this campaign we have seen in previous elections, when wars and the economy have played a big role. Today we have divisions over the Israel/Hamas war, with debates on how the United States should deal with Israel, and the future of the Palestinian people. There is the war in Ukraine and questions some have about our continued support for Ukraine, and how we are working with our allies. Then there are what are usually called kitchen table issues: inflation, and the cost of food, gas, rent, and education. Then add the issue of crime. We know climate change is taking a much larger role in elections, especially for young people who will live longer with the results if we do nothing about it. These are the issues, even if not exactly the same, that have been around in previous elections. Yet this election is still so different. It is what is new and scary I believe this election will be decided on. It will be decided by a very small number of voters, in a small number of states. It will be won by Harris if enough voters fully understand our democracy is actually at risk if Trump wins. They must understand the impact of the Supreme Court ruling granting a president nearly absolute immunity. Understand what happens if Trump’s acolytes, who will be in his government, remake our government based on the Heritage Foundation’s Project
the world safer and healthier for you, who will be living in it the longest. If you are a woman who wants to enyour family being deported, explain to them why this is a vote for your safety and your future. If you are Asian Amer-
Everyone who supports the Harris/Walz ticket needs to sit down and make a list of every one of their friends and family members. Then start calling. First you need to ask each person for a commitment to vote. Then you must help them understand why their vote is so important. Explain to them they are not only voting for themselves in this election, they are voting for you. You need to share with them what this election could mean to your life. If you are a young person concerned with climate change, explain to them they are voting to make the world safer and healthier for you, who will be living in it the longest. If you are a woman who wants to ensure you have control of your own healthcare, and the right to an abortion, explain to them why this election is so crucial to you. If you are a member of the LGBTQ community and want to ensure your rights aren’t taken away, and instead of going backwards, you have a chance to get full equality, explain to them why their vote in this election will have a direct impact on your life. If you are African American and want to ensure you have your civil rights, economic equality, the right to vote, and that the nation doesn’t go back to giving police ultimate power, and the right to ‘stop and frisk’ as Trump has stated he supports, then explain to them why this could literally be a vote for your life. If you are Latino and a Dreamer, and want the right to live safely in this country without looking over your shoulder every day, worrying about the possibility of a member of your family being deported, explain to them why this is a vote for your safety and your future. If you are Asian American and want to ensure you can live without discrimination, explain why this is a vote for you.
This election must be made to feel personal for each voter. People need to understand what electing Trump will mean to each one of us, and how it will directly impact every person’s life. You can do that by calling all your friends and family, and then asking them to call their friends, like a giant telephone tree. It will make the difference to winning or losing.
Again, in the end, this election is about all of us. It is about our individual rights as guaranteed in our Constitution. It is about what our country will look like going into the future. It is about how we interact with the rest of the world knowing we have a global economy, and the result and impact of doing nothing about climate change doesn’t stop at our border. It is about the opportunity to continue to move forward toward that ‘more perfect union,’ promised in our Constitution. So, when you speak with your friends and family do so honestly, and do it with passion. Because for all of us to live a good, safe, and healthy life, in a peaceful, safer, and healthier world, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz must win.
Who’s afraid
KEVIN NAFF
is editor of the Washington Blade. Reach him at knaff@washblade.com
of Robby Starbuck?
Right-wing blogger striking fear into hearts of corporate America
The backlash against DEI and other inclusive programs at America’s largest companies continues, with news last week that Ford Motor Company will scale back its internal DEI initiatives.
The announcement follows a move by retailer Target to reduce its Pride merchandise in June and, of course, the uproar last year over Bud Light’s trans-inclusive marketing efforts.
for trans teens and drag queen story hour events.
Predictably, Starbuck is a Trump supporter whose scientifically challenged opinions have been amplified by Elon Musk. He is a climate change denier and anti-vaxxer who told CNN that LGBTQ Pride events promote sex to children, the oldest and most disgusting slur used against our community.
The corporate CEOs and boards caving to this homophobe should grow a spine.
The Ford news was first reported last week when a memo from CEO Jim Farley was leaked to Reuters by right-wing activist Robby Starbuck, “who has campaigned against DEI programs as well as corporate participation in LGBTQ events and the issuance of public statements concerning — or the deployment of business strategies to address — matters from climate change to systemic racism,” as the Blade reported.
Starbuck, a music video director-turned-anti-woke crusader claimed credit for Ford’s decision, writing that the company “fears” him. “We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies,” he said in a post on X.
No one had ever heard of this guy or his homophobic and racist campaign until recently, which begs the question: Why are some of America’s largest companies reflexively caving to these destructive demands?
Thankfully, the news from corporate America isn’t all bad. In April, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon in a shareholder letter touted a range of programs — “from resource groups for employees who are Black, LGBTQ+, or have disabilities to a fund aimed at helping entrepreneurs of color, investments in rural communities, and recruiting efforts at historically Black colleges and universities,” according to a report in Axios. “He also said that the $30 billion racial equity commitment the bank made in 2020 was ‘nearly completed’ and would become a permanent part of the business.”
In addition to Ford, Starbuck has claimed credit for sparking similar changes at Tractor Supply, John Deere, Harley Davidson, Polaris, and most recently Lowe’s, after threatening to expose “woke policies” at the companies.
Lowe’s last week revealed in a memo that it would stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index and would no longer sponsor parades and festivals like Pride celebrations.
Of course, some of these changes are normal business decisions driven by the bottom line. Does expending internal resources to comply with HRC’s criteria for a good score do anything to boost business? Are these companies hedging now in anticipation of retaliation by a Trump administration if he wins in November?
But the timing of these recently announced changes raises eyebrows given all the pronouncements by Starbuck and they are disconcerting because our corporate allies have sometimes made the difference between anti-LGBTQ laws taking effect or not.
It’s maddening that one pony-tailed blogger could scare huge corporations into abandoning affirming programs for its employees and customers. Starbuck has called DEI programs “evil” and CNN reported that his wife Landon is a leading opponent in Tennessee of affirming medical care
matters from climate change to systemic racism,” as the trepreneurs of color, investments in rural communities, and recruiting efforts at historically Black
“We’re thoughtfully continuing our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts,” he wrote.
And earlier this week, Aetna announced that it would become the first major health insurer to offer intrauterine insemination (IUI) as a medical benefit to all members nationwide, regardless of a patient’s sexual orientation or partner status. Aetna is the nation’s third largest health insurer, so the policy change “has wide-reaching implications for LGBTQ Americans,” the company touted in a release.
For those corporate leaders searching for a response to Starbuck and his ilk, I suggest they listen to former Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette whom I interviewed for the Blade in January upon his retirement. Gennette, who’s gay, pioneered Macy’s own extensive DEI programs and disagreed with how Target and others caved to right-wing demands.
“It’s when you flip and succumb to pressure that you get yourself sideways,” he said, noting that, “It always comes back to your core values. We had Pride merchandise at the front of our stores and we were participants in Pride parades around the country. George Floyd put us on notice about being vocal about our internal programs and how you use your CEO voice to be true to what you’re doing internally.”
There remain plenty of CEOs out there who are doing the right thing. Ford, Lowe’s, and the others placating MAGA blowhards are alienating potential customers and undermining their LGBTQ employees and should reverse these misguided and cowardly decisions.
Jussie Smollett, the actor and musician who was convicted of lying to the police about being the victim of a homophobic and racist hate crime that he staged in 2019, attended a screening of his latest film “The Lost Holliday” in a packed auditorium of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library on Aug. 28.
In an interview with the Washington Blade that took place before the screening, he continued to assert his innocence and responded to concerns within the LGBTQ community that his case has discouraged real victims from reporting hate crimes.
The former “Empire” star wrote, produced, and directed “The Lost Holliday,” his second feature film to direct following 2021’s “B-Boy Blues.” Produced through Smollett’s company, SuperMassive Movies, he stars in the film alongside Vivica A. Fox, who also served as a producer and attended the library screening with other cast members.
In the film, Smollett plays Jason Holliday, a man grappling with the sudden death of his husband Damien (Jabari Redd). Things are complicated when Damien’s estranged mother, Cassandra Marshall (Fox), arrives in Los Angeles from Detroit for the funeral, unaware of Damien’s marriage to Jason or of their adopted daughter. Initially, Jason and Cassandra clash — Cassandra’s subtle homophobia and Jason’s lingering resentment over her treatment of Damien fuel their tension –– but they begin to bond as they navigate their grief together.
Smollett, Fox, Redd, and Brittany S. Hall, who plays Jason’s sister Cheyenne, discussed the film in an interview with the Washington Blade. Highlighting the wide representation of queer identities in the film and among the cast, they stressed that the story is fundamentally about family and love.
“What we really want people to get from this movie is love,” Smollett said. “It’s beneficial for people to see other people that are not like themselves, living the life that they can identify with. Because somehow, what it does is that it opens up the world a little bit.”
Smollett drew from personal experiences with familial estrangement and grief during the making of the film, which delves into themes of parenthood, reconciliation, and the complexities of family relationships.
“I grew up with a father who was not necessarily the most accepting of gay people, and I grew up with a mother who was rather the opposite. I had a safe
promoting new film
‘I know what happened and soon you all will too’
By ERKKI FORSTER
space in my home to go to, but I also had a not-sosafe space in my home, which was my father,” he said.
“The moment that he actually heard the words that his son was gay, as disconnected and estranged as we were, he instantly changed. He called me, after not speaking to him for years, and apologized for how difficult it must have been all of those years of me growing up. And then a couple years later, he passed away.”
Smollett began working on “The Lost Holliday” eight years ago, with Fox in mind for the role of Cassandra from the outset. He said that he had started collaborating on the project with one of the biggest producers in Hollywood when “‘2019’ happened.”
In January 2019, Smollett told Chicago police that he had been physically attacked in a homophobic and racist hate crime. He initially received an outpouring of support, in particular from the LGBTQ and Black communities. However, police soon charged him with filing a false police report, alleging that he had staged the attack.
After prosecutors controversially dismissed the initial charges in exchange for community service and the forfeiture of his $10,000 bond, Smollett was recharged with the same offenses in 2020. Meanwhile, his character in “Empire” was written out of the show.
In 2021, a Cook County jury found him guilty on five
of the six charges of disorderly conduct for lying to police, and he was sentenced to 150 days in jail and 30 months of probation, along with a $120,000 restitution payment to the city of Chicago for the overtime costs incurred by police investigating his initial hate crime claim.
LGBTQ people are nine times more likely than nonLGBTQ people to be victims of violent hate crimes, according to a study by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Upon Smollett’s conviction, some in the LGBTQ community felt that the case would discredit victims of hate crimes and make it more difficult to report future such crimes.
Smollett seemed to acknowledge these concerns, but denied that he staged the attack.
“I know what happened and soon you all will too,” he told the Blade. “If someone reported a crime and it wasn’t the truth, that would actually make it more difficult [to report future crimes], but I didn’t. Any belief that they have about the person that I’ve been played out to be, sure, but that person is not me, never has been,” he said. “So I stand with my community. I love my community and I protect and defend my community until I’m bloody in my fist.”
“And for all the people who, in fact, have been assaulted or attacked and then have been lied upon and made it to seem like they made it up, I’m sorry that you have to constantly prove your trauma, and I wish that it wasn’t that way, and I completely identify with you,” he added.
An Illinois Appellate Court upheld his guilty verdict last year, but Smollett has since appealed to the Illinois Supreme Court, which in March agreed to hear the case. He has served six days in jail so far, as his sentence has been put on hold pending the results of his appeals.
The screening at the MLK Jr. Library concluded with a conversation between Smollett, Fox, and David J. Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. Smollett discussed his current mindset and his plans for the future, revealing he is working on a third movie and will be releasing new music soon.
“I’m in a space where life is being kind,” he said.
“The Lost Holliday” recently secured a distribution deal for a limited release with AMC Theatres and will be out in theaters on Sept. 27.
JUSSIE SMOLLETT’s case remains on appeal. His new film is out later this month. (Blade file Screenshot via YouTube)
CALENDAR |
Friday, Septemeber 06
“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.
GoGayDC will host “First Friday LGBTQ+ Community Social” at 7 p.m. at the Commentary. 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.
Saturday, Septemeber 07
GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Community Brunch” at 11 a.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar & Restaurant. This fun weekly event brings the DMV area LGBTQ community, including allies, together for delicious food and conversation. Attendance is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.
LGBTQ+ People of Color Support Group will be at 1 p.m. on Zoom. This peer support group is an outlet for LGBTQ People of Color to come together and talk about anything affecting them in a space that strives to be safe and judgment free. For more details, visit thedccenter.org/poc or facebook.com/centerpoc.
Sunday, Septemeber 08
GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ 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.
Monday, Septemeber 09
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.
Genderqueer DC will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a support group for people who identify outside of the gender binary whether you’re bigender, agender, genderfluid, or just know that you’re not 100% cis. For more details, visit www.genderqueerdc. org or Facebook.
Tuesday, Septemeber 10
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.
Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a peer-facilitated discussion group. It is a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so. For more details, visit the group’s Facebook page.
By TINASHE CHINGARANDE
Wednesday, Septemeber 11
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, Septemeber 12
The DC Center’s Fresh Produce Program will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5 p.m. if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or call 202-6822245.
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
Walz to headline HRC’s National Dinner
The Human Rights Campaign will host its annual National Dinner on Saturday, Sept. 7 at 5 p.m. at the Walter E Washington Convention Center. Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, will headline the event.
Tickets are still available. For more information, visit HRC’s website.
Nu Sass Productions to celebrate 15th anniversary
Nu Sass Productions will mark its 15th anniversary with a resurrection of “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” beginning Friday, Sept. 20 at 8 p.m. at the DC Arts Center.
“Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead” debuted at the Capital Fringe Festival in 2009 and will return this year with a new cast and crew.
Tickets cost $30 and can be purchased via the Nu Sass website.
Gov. TIM WALZ headlines the HRC Dinner on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
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Explore new venues, productions during D.C. Theatre Week 30 shows,
including musicals, comedies, dramas, premieres, and more
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
For Michael Ramirez, theater remains an ongoing source of inspiration and pleasure. As a little boy in El Paso, Texas, his mom took him to see lots of kids’ shows. And later in high school, he played one of the Sharks in “West Side Story.” All fond memories.
At the University of Texas in Austin for social work (undergraduate) and social work/public administration (graduate school) and then as a successful human resources professional and policy wonk in Washington, Ramirez continued to enjoy theater from the audience or behind the scenes. Now retired, he serves as a Helen Hayes Awards judge and board member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre.
Theatre Washington is the umbrella organization that not only produces the Helen Hayes Awards but also Theatre Week, an annual celebratory launch of the season with shows at low prices, a free kickoff fest, and other fun events.
The 2024 Theatre Week, explains Ramirez, features about 30 varied productions in the DMV, including musicals, comedies,
dramas, new works, premieres, and works geared to young audiences. And tickets are affordably discounted at $60, $40, and $20.
“It’s a great opportunity to take a chance on a theater that you might not be familiar with,” he says. “When it comes to seeing shows, a lot of people think Kennedy Center or Ford’s. This can be an introduction to something entirely new. D.C. is a busy theater town with lots of companies and venues.”
At the heart of Theatre Week are its plays and musicals.
Ramirez has already made his list.
His picks include GALA Hispanic Theatre’s “The 22+ Weddings of Hugo” featuring out actor Carlos Castillo as Hugo and staged by out director José Zayas; busy out playwright Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “The Comeuppance” at Woolly Mammoth; and “Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead” at Nu Sass Productions.
He also plans to see Mosaic Theatre’s “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill,” a play with music about jazz legend/queer icon Billie Holiday starring Roz White; ExPats Theatre’s “Marlene,” featuring Karin Rosnizeck as legendary diva Marlene Dietrich; and Rorschach Theatre’s “Sleeping Giant” written by gay playwright Steve Yockey well known as the developer of the HBO Max comedy-drama television series “The Flight Attendant.”
Ramirez adds, “And as a good gay, I can’t miss ‘Sondheim Tribute Revue’ at Creative Cauldron.”
There are also parties and outdoor events. He advises a few of his favorites.
On Monday, Sept. 9, Woolly Mammoth hosts a Theatre Week Launch Party replete with drinks and season sneak peaks (invitation only).
The Historic Theatre Walking Tour (Sept. 21) asks the public to check out downtown D.C. theaters with guides Farar Elliot and Chris Geidner (free). And with City on the River Concert (Sept. 22), Theatre Washington returns to the D.C. Wharf Transit Pier to present “musical theater showstoppers” from a dozen of the season’s upcoming shows (free).
Next up it’s “DC Theatre at the Nats” (Sept. 24), a night out at the ballgame that baseball lover Ramirez is sure to attend. And typically, he says, performers from a local show or company are booked to sing the anthem ($20).
And big event Kickoff Fest 2024, an all-afternoon event for all ages, takes place on Sept. 28 at Arena Stage (also free).
Not surprisingly Ramirez fell for another theater afi cionado. He and husband John Ralls got together in 1990 and married in 2014. Ralls is a board member at Rorschach.
As board members, they “function as ambassadors and marketers for the theater. We reach into our pockets and write the checks. We buy the season tickets, and encourage our friends to do the same.”
Ramirez enthusiastically reiterates: “Theatre Week is especially fun. Again, tickets are reasonable. There’s everything from puppet plays at Glen Echo Park to something more serious. It’s the perfect chance to try something new.”
MICHAEL RAMIREZ serves as a Helen Hayes Awards judge and board member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre. (Photo by DJ Corey Photography)
Timely doc celebrates America’s most beloved president as ‘Lover
of Men’
Was
Lincoln the most prominent LGBTQ hero in U.S. history?
By JOHN PAUL KING
It’s reasonable to assume, if you’re someone with an interest in “hidden” queer history, that you are already aware of the speculation that Abraham Lincoln might have been gay, or at least bisexual.
Those labels didn’t exist in his time, but the 16th POTUS left a trail of eyebrow-raising same-sex relationships, nonetheless, which many scholars consider as evidence that he was likely a member of what we now call the LGBTQ community.
The discussion around Lincoln’s sexuality has always been broadly drawn and ambiguously cloaked by 19th-century social norms (which [spoiler alert] were not quite as Puritanical as we might believe). Conclusions must be drawn by inference, so it’s no surprise that many historians tend to be wary of projecting modern-day interpretations on a past era. Such experts warn against drawing conclusions from a between-the-lines reading of “official” history; by that standard, whatever the implications might suggest, there’s simply no way to prove anything, one way or another, and that’s the end of the story.
Others, however, are not so eager to close the discussion – and that’s where the creators of “Lover of Men: The Untold History of Abraham Lincoln,” a new documentary conveniently timed for release mere months ahead of what might be our most crucial election so far when it comes to the subject of LGBTQ acceptance and equality, decided to step in and set the record (if you’ll pardon the expression) straight.
Directed by Shaun Peterson – who co-wrote alongside Joshua Koffman, Grace Leeson, and Robert Rosenheck – and unapologetically committed to piercing the opacity of a biography that contains too many “red flags” to ignore, it’s a documentary that eschews neutrality to make a case for claiming “Honest Abe” as the most prominent LGBTQ hero in the Great American Story. Unfolded by expert historians – both queer and otherwise – as an intimate portrait of a profoundly public figure, it charts Lincoln’s life through a lens trained on private experience, and goes beyond that to frame the much-beloved president’s growth and transformation into one of the world’s most significant leaders as a probable consequence of the “friendships” he experienced with the men who were his closest companions during different periods of his life.
Most of the attention is directed, unsurprisingly, at Joshua Speed, the handsome shopkeeper with whom, for four years of his young manhood, Lincoln shared a bed as a matter of “convenience” – despite offers of free and private lodgings elsewhere and a successful law practice that would have allowed him to buy a bed of his own and a house in which to put it. Casting Speed as “the love of Lincoln’s life,” it positions him (through plentiful historical documentation) as the man who helped the future president find his mojo; even so, it goes on to present evidence supporting less well-known male companions as catalysts to Lincoln’s maturation both as a commander-in-chief and a human being.
We won’t go into much detail here; the movie does a better job of illuminating the record than we ever could – and it does so not by relying solely on the speculation of possibly biased commentators, but by presenting “the receipts” as they appear in the indisputable (yet under-discussed) historical record. Gleaned from private correspondences and interviews with Lincoln’s primary contemporary biographer, these details reveal (among other things) the future president’s ambivalence toward women, the questionable context in which Lincoln bedded down with his various male companions, and the emotional bond he had with each of them that seemed to overshadow the one he shared with his eventual first lady, Mary Todd Lincoln – who, at least through the lens cast upon her here, was probably more in love with the idea of being married to a president than she was to the president she married.
No, there’s no “smoking gun” (again, pardon the expression) to be found by the erudite scholars who expound upon the persuasively numerous clues contained in Lincoln’s biography during the course of the film. There are, however, plenty of tell-tale powder burns. By exploring the nuance behind the many documented-but-veiled suggestions about the martyred president’s relationships, both male and female, this varied assortment of historians highlights the points that strike a familiar chord for queer people even if they’re likely to go unconsidered by anyone
else. By the end, “Lover of Men” has expertly pleaded its case and rested it, relying on the weight and volume of its circumstantial evidence to satisfy any reasonable doubt.
The final verdict, of course, remains up to the individual viewer, and it unfortunately goes without saying that a good many will be watching with intent to discredit any hint of queerness within Lincoln’s biography, if they even watch it at all.
Yet while it’s easy to reject an idea when you’ve already made up your mind that it’s false, it’s just as easy to accept one that you want to be true; and though the historians of Peterson’s smart and sassy movie carry an undeniable weight of credibility in their arguments, what remains indisputably accurate is that there is no way to know with certainty if our most-revered president was shaded with the “lavender” referenced by his poetic biographer Carl Sandburg to describe his nature in a later-prudently deleted passage of prose.
That’s perfectly all right, though. “Lover of Men” never tries to claim, unequivocally, that Lincoln belonged in the LGBTQ rainbow, only that the likely probability that he was is worthy of consideration. Further, it goes on to highlight the open-minded empathy that allowed him to pivot his viewpoint in ways that are typically unthinkable in politics; the evolution it charts for Lincoln from gifted country bumpkin to fully aware (dare we say “woke”?) humanitarian leader makes him an ideological model that feels crucial today. That having to suppress his true nature may have shaped the values and ideals that would ultimately help him to change the world makes the film’s arguments even more persuasive; and if its re-enactments of encounters between Lincoln and his alleged male lovers read as a little too modern to be true, they certainly convey a more plausible interpretation than can be found in any surface reading of the scrupulously polite language describing such events in the historic record.
Reinforced by filmed footage of the now-historically preserved sites (the smallness of an old shared cot speaks volumes) where Lincoln’s intimate life took place, these fancifully anachronistic translations of 19th-century queer courtship into something instantly recognizable to modern queer viewers succeed in making it difficulty to cling to a denial that this particular American icon might plausibly have been queer – unless you are very deeply invested, for whatever reason, in doing so.
Sadly, that last point means a great many people will probably reject this passionately earnest piece of info-tainment sight unseen; but for those who don’t, it offers an intelligent and reasonable perspective on one of our most important national icons that can only increase his relevance in an age almost as divisive as the one over which he was destined to preside.
In other words, don’t miss it.
‘Lover of Men’ explores America’s greatest president.
My boyfriend has gained 50 pounds and won’t change
Should I stay with someone who refuses to get off of the couch?
By MICHAEL RADKOWSKY
Dear Michael,
My boyfriend of five years has been steadily putting on weight and now I would say he is about 50 pounds heavier than when we met, which was the summer of 2019.
First he blamed the weight gain on COVID. Like most people we were stuck at home, anxious, and overindulging in comfort food; and the gym wasn’t an option. So I didn’t say anything and figured things would return to “normal” once we got through the pandemic.
I will say, though, that I managed to not gain much weight during that time because I found ways to exercise. He didn’t want to join me and I didn’t push.
Although we’re long past COVID, Tim hasn’t changed his ways. He never went back to the gym and continues to eat whatever he wants. I’d say his main hobby is sitting on the couch watching TV and eating junk food.
To make matters worse, his sister recently told me that historically Tim has been a heavy guy. He’d never bothered to share this with me, so I had no idea.
Evidently I met him on the tail-end of an intense push to get in shape. So he looked really good at the time, but that was temporary.
When I confronted him about this, he was mad at his sister for telling me and said I had no right to talk about him behind his back. Well, I didn’t ask her—she just brought it up, and was surprised that I was surprised.
Tim is annoyed that I keep voicing my unhappiness about his being out of shape. He says he is the same sweet and loving person I fell in love with and I’m shallow to be so upset by surface appearances.
I told him he was trying to gaslight me: If he feels that love should have nothing to do with how you look, then why did he go to all the trouble to lose weight and get in shape before we met? I feel like he did it to get a boyfriend and then thought he could just go back to being fat once he was in a relationship.
It’s true that no one stays gorgeous, and has an amazing body, forever. We all have to accept the changes that time brings to our partners and to ourselves. But that is different from accepting a partner who isn’t making any effort to take care of himself.
Aside from the lack of self-care, Tim’s refusal to share significant details about his life, or his thoughts and motives around big issues, is both a trust-destroyer and a huge roadblock to your having a close or intimate relationship. And the way that Tim blows off your questions, and attacks you for being curious or confused, is a recipe for distance and resentment. It is also unkind.
Now let’s look at your part in this. I’m curious about what has been keeping you in this relationship. You haven’t said anything about what you like (or love) about Tim. All I know is that he describes himself as sweet and loving.
Maybe he has some wonderful qualities you haven’t mentioned. Or maybe it’s hard for you to stand up for yourself? To let someone down? To have a boundary when it’s important?
My biggest questions: Do you have a history of picking partners who underperform in some major ways? Or is the first time you’ve found yourself constantly disappointed by your partner, and constantly pushing him to do better? Somehow you’ve created a life where you are hitting your head against a brick wall, getting nowhere, continuing to do it, and complaining about the pain. Tim’s made clear that he doesn’t want to do anything different, and yet you continue to push him to change. Your behavior might be leading him to dig in. In any case, it’s leaving you miserable.
In any relationship, you can certainly ask for what you would like from your partner. But you have to let go of the result. And if the answer is “no,” you can either accept it, or drive the two of you crazy. If you do care about this relationship, and Tim, and yourself, you could propose to
So now he’s mad at me for saying he’s basically a devious schemer. I didn’t use those words but it’s true I don’t trust him and feel taken advantage of.
Besides the weight, it’s not attractive to see him just basically lie around all the time and not take care of his body.
I asked if he’d consider some drug like Ozempic and he got really angry and said I’m awful to suggest something that might have all sorts of side effects just so that I will be happier with his looks.
The upshot is, I feel stuck with a guy who turns me off and doesn’t want to do anything about it and tells me I’m shallow for not being in love with him no matter what he looks like.
My friends tell me to dump him, but does he have a point?
Michael replies:
You get to decide whom you want to date. You are very far from alone in wanting an energetic and physically attractive partner.
Tim that the two of you meet with a couples therapist. Perhaps this would help Tim to open up and to get a grip on his behaviors. It might also help you to understand why you might be keeping yourself stuck in a miserable position, so that you can raise your level of functioning in this relationship.
One more important thought: Tim’s lack of self-care and energy make me think that he is depressed. I wonder if Tim—before you met him, at least—was one of the many gay men who feel intense pressure to have a certain kind of body. It isn’t always easy, or even possible, to sustain this kind of appearance. And I wonder if he may be ashamed of where he is, which might be one big reason for his defensiveness.
Again, couples therapy—or individual therapy—might help him address whatever is keeping him down. But Tim would have to be willing to go. You can make the suggestion, but you cannot force him to change.
(Michael Radkowsky, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with couples and individuals in D.C. He can be found online at michaelradkowsky.com. All identifying information has been changed for reasons of confidentiality. Have a question? Send it to michael@michaelradkowsky.com.)
A partner’s weight gain could be due to undiagnosed depression.
A Night of Dance at Sunfestival
Annual Rehoboth Beach Labor Day Weekend events culminate with blowout party (Washington
CAMP Rehoboth hosted ‘A Night of Dance’ on Sunday, Sept. 1 in Rehoboth Beach, Del. following a weekend of activities for Sunfestival.
Blade photos by Daniel Truitt)
Sustainability and smart home technology
The future of modern living is now
By JEFF HAMMERBERG
In the rapidly evolving world of real estate, two major trends are converging to shape the homes of the future: sustainability and smart home technology. As more people become aware of the environmental impact of their choices, and as technology continues to advance at a breakneck pace, these two trends are increasingly influencing buying decisions in the residential real estate market. For those looking to buy or sell a home, particularly within the LGBTQ community, understanding these trends is essential. At GayRealEstate.com, we recognize the importance of these developments and how they contribute to a better, more sustainable future for all.
Demand for Sustainable Living
Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword — it’s a key factor in the decision-making process for many homebuyers. The modern consumer is increasingly conscious of their carbon footprint and is seeking homes that align with their values. Sustainable homes, also known as green homes, are designed to be energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. They often feature solar panels, energy-efficient windows, and advanced insulation systems, all of which contribute to reducing the home’s overall energy consumption.
One of the primary benefits of sustainable homes is the long-term cost savings they offer. By utilizing renewable energy sources like solar power, homeowners can significantly reduce their utility bills. Additionally, many governments and municipalities offer tax incentives and rebates for homes that incorporate green technology, making the initial investment in sustainability more financially viable.
The Rise of Smart Home Technology
Simultaneously, smart home technology is becoming a must-have feature in modern homes. What was once considered a luxury is now becoming a standard expectation for many buyers. Smart homes are equipped with devices and systems that can be controlled remotely via smartphones, tablets, or voice-activated assistants like Amazon Alexa or Google Home. These technologies include smart thermostats, security systems,
lighting, and even kitchen appliances, all designed to make life more convenient, efficient, and secure.
Smart home technology is particularly appealing for its ability to optimize energy use. For example, a smart thermostat can learn a homeowner’s schedule and automatically adjust the temperature to reduce energy consumption when the house is empty. Similarly, smart lighting systems can be programmed to turn off when not in use or to dim based on the time of day or natural light levels, further contributing to energy savings.
Intersection of Sustainability, Smart Technology
The most forward-thinking homes are those that successfully integrate sustainability with smart home technology. This intersection is where the real innovation in real estate is happening. Homes that combine these elements offer not only reduced environmental impact but also enhanced living experiences.
Imagine a home where solar panels are not just installed but are also connected to a smart grid that optimizes energy use based on real-time data. Or consider a home with a rainwater collection system that works in tandem with smart irrigation to water the garden efficiently and sustainably. These are not just futuristic ideas — they are already being implemented in new developments across the country.
In fact, this integration is becoming a key selling point in competitive real estate markets. Buyers are increasingly looking for homes that offer both energy efficiency and the convenience of modern technology. For sellers, this means that investing in these features can significantly increase the value of their property and make it more attractive to potential buyers.
Impact on Property Values
As sustainability and smart technology become more ingrained in the real estate market, their impact on property values is becoming increasingly evident. Homes equipped with these features are often valued higher than comparable properties without them. Buyers are willing to pay a premium for homes that offer lower energy bills, reduced environmental impact, and the latest in home technology.
For LGBTQ real estate buyers and sellers, particularly those who value innovation and environmental responsibility, these trends represent an exciting opportunity. By focusing on sustainability and smart home technology, you can find or create a home that not only meets your needs but also contributes to a better, greener future.
(At GayRealEstate.com, we are committed to helping our clients navigate these emerging trends. Whether you are looking to buy, sell, or simply explore the possibilities, our network of knowledgeable and LGBTQ-friendly real estate professionals is here to guide you every step of the way. Together, we can make sustainable, smart living a reality for everyone.)
JEFF HAMMERBERG
is founding CEO of Hammerberg & Associates, Inc. Reach him at 303-378-5526 or jeffhammerberg@gmail.com.
Sustainable homes often feature solar panels.
One of a kind. Now two.
Ultra-equipped, finely appointed, meticulously kept apartment homes available now in Lanham, Maryland’s new Harkins District.
+ Studio, one- and two-bedroom apartment homes, featuring open floor plans
+ Gourmet kitchens, including quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances
+ Hardwood-inspired flooring and spa-inspired baths
+ Washer and dryer in each apartment
+ TWO Resort-style saltwater pools with cabanas
+ TWO Rooftop bars with lounge seating
+ TWO Clubrooms with billiards
+ TWO Conference and co-working spaces
+ TWO Fitness centers
+ Pet-friendly and pet-free living options
+ Garage parking available for all residents
+ 1.5 blocks to New Carrollton Metro and Amtrak
+ Monthly social resident events
MASSAGE
MASSAGE FOR MEN
Private studio near Rosslyn/Courthouse, weekends (Fri-Mon), 12-9. Text Gary @301-704-1158 or visit www.mymassagebygary.com
BUY / SELL
LABYRINTH’S ANNUAL USED GAME SALE
Is Almost Here! Add amazing, gently used board games to your game collection for bargain prices. Our Saturday auctions include many out-of-print, deluxe, & hard-to-get games. Our Sunday rummage sale prices drop to $0 at the end of the day.
Saturday, Sept. 7, is Auction Day! Sunday, Sept 8, is our all-day Rummage Sale: Prices drop throughout the day! Come to: Labyrinth, 645 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, DC 20003, to participate in this charity event! Learn More: labyrinthdc.com/ugs Proceeds support community initiatives like the Labyrinth Teacher Fund & free community game nights. Thank you for your support! Laby- rinth is a safe inclusive space for all.
I could be your capable, kindly part-time professional care-giver. If you’re an older guy near Dupont or Logan. I’m fit, caring and experienced. jim@newmorningfarm.net. Call 814 599 2777
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LEGAL SERVICES
ADOPTION, DONOR, SURROGACY
legal services. Catelyn represents LGBTQ clients in DC, MD & VA interested in adoption or ART matters.
MODERN FAMILY FORMATION
Law Offices, Slattery Law, LLC. 240-245-7765
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Live one quiet block from 17th and Annie’s? First floor, 2BR, in classic Victorian near NH Ave. Patio, parking, W/D. Avail Oct. jim@newmorningfarm.net
Thanks for reading the Blade!
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION 2024 ADM 000247
John Christian Weber aka J. Christian Weber, Name of Decedent Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs
James A. Gillis, whose address is 3033 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 700, Arlington, Virginia 22201, was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of John Christian Weber, aka J. Christian Weber who died on January 1, 2022, with a Will and will serve without court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before March 6, 2025. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills Or to the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before March 6, 2025, or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of. This notice by mail within 25 days of its publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship.
Date of first publication: 9/6/24
Name of newspaper and/or periodical: DWLR/Washington Blade
/s/James A.Gillis, 3033 Wilson Blvd, Suite 700, Arlington, VA 22201 610-348-7367
/s/Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Probate Division. Joy Allen, Clerk
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in print & online! If you need assistance, please email the text & image to: classifieds@washblade.com or call 202-747-2077 x 8092 leave a message!
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!
