Washington Blade, Volume 55, Issue 49, December 06, 2024

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Adult suspect pleads guilty to Rehoboth Beach hate crime

Case pending for five juveniles charged in targeting women for harassment

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to a charge of disorderly conduct in connection with an Aug. 17 incident in which five juveniles and one adult were arrested for allegedly targeting three women for harassment on a street in Rehoboth Beach based on their perception of the victims’ sexual orientation.

Lt. Mark Sweet, a spokesperson for the Rehoboth Beach Police Department, said the adult suspect in the case, Jerome Charleston, was sentenced to a fine of $100 plus court costs at a Sept. 18 arraignment in which he pleaded guilty to a single count of disorderly conduct.

A statement released by Rehoboth police at the time of the incident says it occurred on Saturday, Aug. 17, at 2 a.m. at Baltimore Avenue and Second Street. The statement says three women flagged down a police officer after a vehicle drove past them and then came to a stop.

According to the statement, five juveniles exited the vehicle and approached the women, making statements that their behavior in public was not appropriate. During the exchange, the statement continues, one of the juveniles fired an Airsoft gun at the women and all five returned to the vehicle and fled the area.

Airsoft guns are replica guns designed to shoot non-metallic projectiles. No injuries were reported in the incident.

The police statement says officers in nearby Dewey Beach located the vehicle and apprehended the five juveniles and an adult driving the vehicle.

“Once in custody, it was determined that the only reason the suspects stopped to confront the victims was due to their perception of the victims’ sexual orientation,” the Rehoboth police statement says.

The police statement says three of the juveniles arrested in the case, two of whom were 15 years old and the other 14, were from Rehoboth Beach. It says another youth, age 14, was from nearby Lewes, and the other, at age 15, was from nearby Blades, Del.

The statement says each of the juveniles was charged with Aggravated Menacing, a felony; and the misdemeanor counts of Offensive Touching, Conspiracy in the Third Degree, Disorderly Conduct, and a Hate Crime.

Charleston, the only adult in the case, was charged with Disorderly Conduct, which is a misdemeanor.

The Washington Blade couldn’t immediately determine the status of the case against the juveniles. Police

spokesperson Sweet said those cases were still pending and Rehoboth Police could not comment further on those cases.

In most jurisdictions, including Delaware, juvenile cases are kept confidential and are not part of the public court records.

D.C. Health Link insurance program makes care for people with HIV free

Deductible, co-payments eliminated under new policy

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

The executive board of the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority, which arranges for D.C. residents and nonresidents employed in D.C. to obtain health insurance coverage, voted unanimously on Nov. 19 to make the treatment and long-term care of people with HIV free of charge if they are enrolled in one of the authority’s health insurance plans.

D.C. Health Link, an independent D.C. agency created by the Health Benefit Exchange Authority to carry out its health insurance program, announced the new HIV care policy in a Nov. 20 statement.

“Making HIV care free – meaning no deductibles, no co-insurance, no copays – will save lives,” said Diane C. Lewis, chair of the Health Benefit Exchange Authority’s board in the statement.

“Starting in Plan Year 2026, residents enrolled in a D.C. Health Link Essential Plan can get free primary care visits, free laboratory tests, and free generic HIV medication,” the statement says. “Visits that would otherwise cost up to $45 per visit and $55 per lab test will be free,” it says.

“Making primary care for HIV free will improve health outcomes,” the statement continues, noting that HIV disproportionately impacts communities of color. It points out that in D.C., 71 percent of people living with HIV are Black and 8 percent are Latino.

The statement also points out that nationwide at the end of 2022, “only 64 percent of the Black population with HIV was linked to care and 53 percent were virally

suppressed, meaning their HIV was suppressed through treatment.”

In contrast, according to the statement, “70 percent of the white population with HIV was linked to care and 63 percent were virally suppressed.”

The statement also notes that Whitman-Walker Health, the D.C.-based LGBTQ supportive health care provider and research facility, played an important role in helping the D.C. Health Benefit Exchange Authority develop the free HIV care program.

Mila Kofman, executive director of the D.C. Health

Benefit Exchange Authority, explained that the authority created D.C. Health Link as part of D.C.’s participation in the federal healthcare program established by the U.S. Affordable Care Act, which was approved by Congress during the administration of President Barack Obama.

Kofman noted that like programs established by states under the Affordable Care Act, D.C. Health Link arranges for D.C. residents or non-residents who work in D.C. to obtain health insurance plans from private health insurance companies. Among those participating in the D.C. program are United Healthcare, Blue Cross-Blue Shield, and Kaiser Permanente, Kofman said.

Like all private health insurance plans, Kofman said people participating in the plans arranged by D.C. Health Link must pay a monthly premium for their plan. She said the premiums vary based on the amount of coverage participants select in choosing a specific plan and reduced premiums are available for people depending on their income.

She said that due to the highly complex process for making policy changes for health insurance, which includes a review and approval by the D.C. Insurance Commissioner, the process takes a little over a year to complete. Thus, the new “free” HIV care coverage will begin Jan. 1, 2026.

According to Kofman, existing D.C. Health Link insurance plans already cover the HIV prevention medication known as PrEP.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C. Health Link insurance plans already cover PrEP but a new plan will make all HIV care free. (Photo by Bowonpat/Bigstock)

Spring Kitties Umbrella. 44-inches in Diameter. $25.95.

HIV-positive patients can now receive organs from HIV-positive donors

A new rule announced last week by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will allow HIV positive patients to receive organs from HIV positive donors, a move that will expand the pool of available organs and reduce wait times.

“This rule removes unnecessary barriers to kidney and liver transplants, expanding the organ donor pool and improving outcomes for transplant recipients with HIV,” said HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra in a statement.

The agency noted that the final rule also aims to combat stigma and health inequities associated with HIV.

“Research shows that kidney and liver transplants between donors and recipients with HIV can be performed safely and effectively,” Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine added. “ This policy change reflects our commitment to following the evidence and updating our approaches as we learn more. By removing research requirements where they are no longer needed, we can help more people with HIV access life-saving transplants.”

HHS notes that the rule applies to kidney and liver transplants, which correspond with the areas in which the evidence from biomedical research is the most “robust.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Beloved trans adult content creator dies

Apollo Moon, known as Forest Harader to his family, passed away on Monday in Los Angeles after being hospitalized in the ICU and on life support as of late November. His death comes as a shock to many of his fans who avidly supported his creative work as a porn creator and model. He was notably famous for being a BIPOC porn creator in a historically white dominated space.

The latest update from his family, according to a news site, is that his health declined after a recent injury, resulting in him being declared brain dead. They are asking the queer, trans and BIPOC communities to support them in ensuring he is properly grieved. His family posted on Meal Train asking for donations and so far, the community has shown their support, raising $12,750 of the $15,000 goal.

The post also says that his parents will be taking an extended leave from work, along with this sister, during this difficult time.

He was beloved and considered a leader in the transmasc community.

GISSELLE PALOMERA

Trump nominates gay man for Treasury Secretary

President-elect Donald Trump nominated gay hedge fund executive Scott Bessent as U.S. Treasury Secretary last week.

Once a prolific donor to Democrats and a protege of liberal billionaire philanthropist George Soros, if confirmed Bessent would be the first LGBTQ official to lead the Treasury Department and the second gay Cabinet secretary after Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

“Trump’s selection of Bessent, who is also openly gay, married, and has two children with his partner, is also a reminder of President Trump’s love and respect for LGBT Americans,” the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans said in a statement.

“Scott Bessent is a terrific choice to become the next Treasury Secretary and the Log Cabin Republicans applaud President Trump for his pick,” the organization wrote. “As one of the most brilliant minds in the financial space and a vocal supporter of President Trump’s economic agenda, Bessent will be a strong asset to help President Trump put America back on the path to financial security and economic prosperity.”

Equality Forum, a national LGBTQ civil rights organization, which oversees LGBT History Month, noted the nomination of Scott Bessent in a press release, writing that he “is highly regarded by the financial community and founder of a global macro investment firm.”

Equality Forum Executive Director Malcolm Lazin added, “If confirmed, Bessent will be the highest ranking openly gay U.S. government official in American history.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Canadian town fined for not commemorating Pride

A small town in Northern Ontario has been fined C$10,700 (approximately $10,000) for its refusal to issue a Pride Month declaration or raise the rainbow flag.

The town of Emo population 1,300, which sits on the border with Minnesota about 200 miles northwest of Duluth, had been requested to issue the Pride declaration by Borderlands Pride in 2020 and raise the flag for one week, but the town council refused in a 3-2 vote, prompting a years-long legal battle.

Last week, that came to an end as the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal found the town and its mayor guilty of discrimination and ordered the town to pay Borderlands Pride C$10,000 in compensation, and the mayor to pay an additional C$5,000 ($3,559.92).

“We didn’t pursue this because of the money. We pursued this because we were treated in a discriminatory fashion by a municipal government, and municipalities have obligations under the Ontario Human Rights Code not to discriminate in the provision of a service,” Doug Judson, a lawyer and board member of Borderlands Pride, told CBC News.

The tribunal also ordered the mayor to take a Human Rights 101 training course offered by the Ontario Human Rights Commission within 30 days.

Mayor Harold McQuaker has not commented publicly on the ruling.

ROB SALERNO

HHS Assistant Health Secretary Adm. RACHEL LEVINE, U.S. Rep. MARK TAKANO (D-Calif.), and HHS Secretary XAVIER BECERRA (Blade photo by Christopher Kane)

APOLLO MOON (Screen capture via YouTube)

SCOTT BESSENT (Screen capture via YouTube)

Biden, Blinken mark World AIDS Day

Memorial Quilt panels displayed on South Lawn

By MICHAEL KEY | mkey@washblade.com

President Joe Biden thanked a crowd of HIV/AIDS treatment advocates and community members on the South Lawn of the White House on Sunday for “the honor of our lives to serve in the White House, the people’s house, your house.”

“We felt a special obligation to use this sacred place to ensure everyone is seen and the story of America is heard,” the president continued. “That’s why we’re all together here at this World AIDS Day.”

The president and first lady gave their remarks at a White House commemoration of World AIDS Day. They were joined by activist Jeanne White-Ginder. Panels of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt were on display on the lawn behind them as they spoke to guests.

A team of volunteers worked in the morning to assemble the panels in preparation for public viewing. One of the volunteers, Jerry Suarez, told the Blade that he had lost both his brother and father to the epidemic.

“I came here to bring my dad and brother here,” Suarez told the Blade as he motioned toward the panels on the quilt.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the work the NAMES Project has done in taking care of my father and taking care of my brother,”continued Suarez. “I feel like this is the moment we’ve always wanted — we wanted for the longest time to have a sitting president to actually even notice us, and in ’96 when the Clintons came to the display, that was the first time . . . but we never could quite get in the door on the other side of the fence.”

The AIDS Memorial Quilt is overseen by the National AIDS Memorial. Sections of the quilt have been displayed throughout the world. According to the National AIDS Memorial, the last display of the entire AIDS Memorial Quilt was in October of 1996 when it covered the National Mall. The quilt is considered the world’s largest community folk art piece, with nearly 50,000 panels representing more than 100,000 names.

This marks the first time that panels of the quilt have been displayed on the South Lawn of the White House. President Barack Obama displayed a section of the quilt in the East Wing of the White House in 2012.

“As I look at this beautiful quilt, with its bright colors, the names in big block letters, renderings of lives and loves, I see it as a mom,” Jill Biden said. “And I think of the mothers who stitched their pain into a patchwork panel so that the world would remember their child. Not as a victim of a vicious disease, but as a son who had played in a high school jazz band, as a child who proudly grew up to serve our nation in uniform, as the daughter whose favorite holiday was Christmas.”

“Jeanne,” the first lady turned to White-Ginder. “I know you didn’t choose the life of an activist, but when Ryan got sick 40 years ago, you stepped up in the fight against discrimination and helped the world see this disease more clearly.”

White-Ginder is the mother of Ryan White, for whom the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) is named. RWHAP is the largest federal program focused on HIV, according to the Health Resources and Services Administration.

White-Ginder said, “In 1990 . . . shortly after Ryan died, Sen. [Ted] Kennedy asked me if I would come to Washington to explain to senators how vital it was to pass the AIDS bill, which had been recently named after my son, called the Ryan White CARE Act. He said that I was something much more powerful than a lobbyist: I was a mother.”

“The first senator I met getting off the elevator at the Capitol was Sen. Joe Biden,” White-Ginder continued. “With tears in his eyes, he told me that he had lost his child, and that the only way that he had found to deal with . . . the grief was through a purpose.”

White-Ginder said, “In many ways, personal grief has fueled the AIDS movement since the beginning. Both Republicans and Democrats in Congress have supported Ryan’s bill, and as a result, countless lives have been saved.”

President Biden thanked retiring associate administrator for HIV/AIDS Bureau Health Resources and Services Administration Dr. Laura Cheever, as well as former chief medical adviser to the president Anthony Fauci, and the recently deceased A. Cornelius Baker for their contributions to the fight against HIV/AIDS.

President Biden lauded the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), launched by George W. Bush, as the “single largest investment of any nation in the world to take on a single disease, saving more than 26 million lives so far.”

As a senator, Biden helped lead the bipartisan effort to authorize PEPFAR in 2003. Biden reauthorized PEPFAR last year and announced on Sunday’s World AIDS Day commemoration that he is “going to call on Congress to pass a five year PEPFAR

reauthorization to sustain these gains made globally.”

The president promoted his administration’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy and discussed access to treatment and prevention as well as fighting stigma and discrimination.

Finally, the president announced that before the end of his term, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will update its guidance on HIV care, “encouraging states to adopt the best practices using the latest science and technology.”

Guests were invited to view the display of panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt on the South Lawn of the White House at the end of the program.

Also on Sunday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and the U.S. Agency for International Development marked World AIDS Day.

Blinken in his statement echoed the Biden-Harris administration’s call “for collective action with partners around the world to sustain and accelerate the great progress we have made toward ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.”

“Over the past four years, the State Department has worked tirelessly to save lives through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR),” the statement reads. “In partnership with foreign governments, PEPFAR has changed the trajectory of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and now supports more than 20 million people on lifesaving treatment across 55 countries around the world. Independent analyses have documented a direct link of this lifesaving work to economic growth across PEPFAR partner countries. Bipartisan action on a clean, five-year reauthorization of PEPFAR is essential to ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat and to implementing the program’s plans to sustain success over the long term through partner country and community-led and managed programs.”

Blinken further stressed World AIDS Day “is a day to remember the more than 42 million lives lost to HIV/AIDS — a stark reminder of the threat this virus continues to pose if we do not ensure that partner countries have the vision and capacity to sustain a bold response.”

“We must continue to chart a course together that will help communities stay safe and prosperous by ending HIV/AIDS as a public health threat,” he said.

USAID spokesperson Benjamin Suarato in a statement echoed Blinken.

“Each year, we observe World AIDS Day to honor people living with and affected by HIV, remember those we have lost, and recommit to ending HIV as a public health threat by 2030,” said Suarato. “For decades, USAID has worked to support those affected by HIV, as well as the health workers, scientists, researchers, advocates, and communities dedicated to the HIV response.”

(Michael K. Lavers contributed to this report.)

Panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt are on display on the South Lawn of the White House for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Supreme Court hears arguments in pivotal gender affirming care case

U.S. v. Skrmetti could have far-reaching impacts

By CHRISTOPHER KANE |

ckane@washblade.com

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in U.S. v. Skrmetti on Wednesday, the case brought by the Biden-Harris administration’s Department of Justice to challenge Tennessee’s ban on gender affirming care for minors.

At issue is whether the law, which proscribes medical, surgical, and pharmacological interventions for purposes of gender transition, abridges the right to due process and equal protection under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, as well as Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, which prohibits sex-based discrimination.

The petitioners — U.S. Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar, who represents the federal government, and Chase Strangio, co-director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project — argue the Supreme Court should apply heightened scrutiny to laws whose application is based on transgender status rather than the rational basis test that was used by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which is more deferential to decisions by legislators.

Legal experts agree the conservative justices are unlikely to be persuaded even though, as Tennessee Solicitor General J.

Matthew Rice made clear on Wednesday, under the state’s statute “If a boy wants puberty blockers, the answer is yes, if you have precocious puberty; no, if you’re doing this to transition. If a girl wants puberty blockers, the answer is yes, if you have precocious puberty; no, if you’re doing this to transition.”

Oral arguments delved into a range of related topics, beginning with conservative Justice Samuel Alito’s questions about debates within the global scientific and medical communities about the necessity of these interventions for youth experiencing gender dysphoria and the risks and benefits associated with each treatment.

“Isn’t the purpose of intermediate scrutiny to make sure that we guard against — I’m not intending to insult — but we all have instinctual reactions, whether it’s parents or doctors or legislatures, to things that are wrong or right,” said liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

“For decades, women couldn’t hold licenses as butchers or as lawyers because legislatures thought that we weren’t strong enough to pursue those occupations,” she said. “And some, some people rightly believe that gender dysphoria may cause may be changed

by some children, in some children, but the evidence is very clear that there are some children who actually need this treatment. Isn’t there?”

After Prelogar answered in the affirmative, Sotomayor continued, “Some children suffer incredibly with gender dysphoria, don’t they? Some attempt suicide. Drug addiction is very high among some of these children because of their distress. One of the petitioners in this case described going almost mute because of their inability to speak in a voice that they could live with.”

Conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh focused his initial questions on whether the democratic process should adjudicate questions of science and policy, asserting that both sides have presented compelling arguments for their respective positions.

There are solutions that would allow policymakers to mitigate concerns with gender affirming medical interventions for minor youth without abridging the Equal Protection clause and Section 1557 of the ACA, Prelogar said.

For instance, “West Virginia was thinking about a total ban, like this one, on care for

Casa Ruby receiver files for bankruptcy

Jan. 21 deadline set for creditors, former employees to apply for reimbursement

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

| lchibbaro@washblade.com

In a little-noticed development, the Wanda Alston Foundation, which assumed control over the operations of the D.C. LGBTQ community services group Casa Ruby in August 2022 under a court-appointed receivership role, filed a petition on Aug. 27 of this year to place Casa Ruby in bankruptcy.

The petition, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Columbia, says Casa Ruby has estimated liabilities to at least 50 creditors of more than $1 million and estimated assets of between $0 and $50,000.

Nick Harrison, an attorney representing the Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing services to homeless LGBTQ youth, said Casa Ruby currently has no known financial assets, including cash.

He said the bankruptcy petition’s estimated assets of up to $50,000 are based on a pending lawsuit that the Alston Foundation filed against eight former Casa Ruby board members and Casa Ruby’s founder and former executive director Ruby Corado in December 2022. The lawsuit accuses the board of violating D.C.’s nonprofit corporation law by failing to exercise oversight over Casa Ruby’s operations that led to its financial collapse and shutdown in 2022.

The lawsuit calls on the court to require Corado and the former board members to pay “restitution, compensatory damages, puni-

tive damages, receivership fees and expenses, court costs, attorneys’ fees, and expenses, and any other relief the court deems necessary and proper.”

A D.C. Superior Court judge on May 1, 2023, dismissed the lawsuit filed by the Alston Foundation against all but one of the former Casa Ruby board members but did not dismiss the case against Corado.

The Alston Foundation has appealed the ruling dismissing the lawsuit, and the case is now pending before the D.C. Court of Appeals.

The lawsuit also alleges that the board failed to adequately oversee the actions of Corado, who pleaded guilty in July of this year to a charge of wire fraud as part of a plea bargain deal offered by prosecutors.

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

Corado, who initially denied the allegations against her, is currently staying with a family member in Rockville, Md., in a home detention arrangement following her arrest by the FBI on March 5 of this year. She is scheduled to be

sentenced on Jan. 10.

D.C. Superior Court Judge Danya A. Dayson stated that her decision to dismiss the lawsuit against seven of the eight former board members was based on her interpretation of D.C. law. She said she believes the law holds that members of an organization’s board of directors can only be held liable for harming an organization like Casa Ruby if they “intentionally, rather than negligently, inflicted harm on Casa Ruby.”

The judge said she did not dismiss the case against one of the board members because the lawsuit presents evidence that the board member received some financial benefits from Corado.

In a legal brief filed with the appeals court, the Alston Foundation attorneys state that evidence shows the Casa Ruby board members “were deliberately indifferent or ‘willfully blind’ to the alleged wrongful conduct of the nonprofit’s executive director amounting to actual knowledge on their part that inaction would harm the nonprofit, ultimately and forcibly leading to its financial inability to continue operation.”

The former board members have declined requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Harrison, the attorney representing the Alston Foundation in the bankruptcy filing, said

minors,” she said, “but then the Senate Majority Leader in West Virginia, who’s a doctor, looked at the underlying studies that demonstrate sharply reduced associations with suicidal ideation and suicide attempts, and the West Virginia Legislature changed course and imposed a set of guardrails that are far more precisely tailored to concerns surrounding the delivery of this care.”

She continued, “West Virginia requires that two different doctors diagnose the gender dysphoria and find that it’s severe and that the treatment is medically necessary to guard against the risk of self harm. The West Virginia law also requires mental health screening to try to rule out confounding diagnoses. It requires the parents to agree and the primary care physician to agree. And I think a law like that is going to fare much better under heightened scrutiny precisely because it would be tailored to the precise interests and not serve a more sweeping interest.”

Later, in an exchange with Rice, Sotoyamor said, “I thought that that’s why we had intermediate scrutiny when there are differences based on sex, to ensure that states were not acting on the basis of prejudice.”

anyone who is owed money by Casa Ruby has until Jan. 21 to file a “proof of claim” form with the bankruptcy court to be eligible to be compensated if funds become available.

At the time of Casa Ruby’s shutdown, the organization’s employees were among those who said they were not paid in the months or weeks prior to the shutdown.

Asked what prompted the Alston Foundation to file the bankruptcy petition on behalf of Casa Ruby, Harris said, “Filing the bankruptcy petition ensures that a trustee with the appropriate expertise can wrap up the remaining issues while allowing the Wanda Alston Foundation to stay focused on its core mission.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Court records show that one of the officials in charge of collecting proof of claim forms for those owed money is Mark E. Albert, a court appointed Trustee for the bankruptcy filing. Court records show he can be reached at 202-728-3020.

RUBY CORADO is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 10. (Blade file photo)

LGBTQ asylum seekers, migrants brace for second Trump administration

Incoming president has promised ‘mass deportations’

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

Advocacy groups in the wake of President-elect Donald Trump’s election fear his administration’s proposed immigration policies will place LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers at increased risk.

“What we are expecting again is that the new administration will continue weaponizing the immigration system to keep igniting resentment,” Abdiel Echevarría-Cabán, an immigration lawyer who is based in Texas’s Rio Grande Valley, told the Washington Blade.

Trump during the campaign pledged a “mass deportation” of undocumented immigrants.

The president-elect in 2019 implemented the Migrant Protection Protocols program — known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy — that forced asylum seekers to pursue their cases in Mexico.

Advocates sharply criticized MPP, in part, because it made LGBTQ asylum seekers who were forced to live in Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Matamoros, and other Mexican border cities even more vulnerable to violence and persecution based on their gender identity and sexual orientation.

The State Department currently advises American citizens not to travel to Tamaulipas state in which Matamoros is located because of “crime and kidnapping.” The State Department also urges American citizens to “reconsider travel” to Baja California and Chihuahua states in which Tijuana and Ciudad Juárez are located respectively because of “crime and kidnapping.”

The Biden-Harris administration ended MPP in 2021.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March 2020 implemented Title 42, which closed the Southern border to most asylum seekers and migrants because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The policy ended in May 2023.

Robert Contreras, president of Bienestar Human Services, a Los Angeles-based organization that works with Latino and LGBTQ communities, in a statement to the Blade noted Project 2025, which “outlines the incoming administration’s agenda, proposes extensive rollbacks of rights and protections for LGBTQ+ individuals.”

“This includes dismantling anti-discrimination protections, restricting access to gender-affirming healthcare, and increasing immigration enforcement,” said Contreras.

A Biden-Harris administration policy that took effect in May 2023 says “noncitizens who cross the Southwest land border or adjacent coastal borders without authorization after traveling through another country, and without having (1) availed themselves of an existing lawful process, (2) presented at a port of entry at a pre-scheduled time using

the CBP (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) One app, or (3) been denied asylum in a third country through which they traveled, are presumed ineligible for asylum unless they meet certain limited exceptions.” The exceptions under the regulation include:

• They were provided authorization to travel to the United States pursuant to a DHS-approved parole process;

• They used the CBP One app to schedule a time and place to present at a port of entry, or they presented at a port of entry without using the CBP One app and established that it was not possible to access or use the CBP One app due to a language barrier, illiteracy, significant technical failure, or other ongoing and serious obstacle; or

• They applied for and were denied asylum in a third country en route to the United States.

Biden in June issued an executive order that prohibits migrants from asking for asylum in the U.S. if they “unlawfully” cross the Southern border.

The Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration works with LGBTQ migrants and asylum seekers in Tijuana, Mexicali, and other Mexican border cities.

ORAM Executive Director Steve Roth is among those who criticized Biden’s executive order. Roth told the Blade the incoming administration’s proposed policies would “leave vulnerable transgender people, gay men, lesbians, and others fleeing life-threatening violence and persecution with little to no opportunity to seek asylum in the U.S. stripped of safe pathways.”

“Many will find themselves stranded in dangerous regions like the Mexico-U.S. border and transit countries around the world where their safety and well-being will be further jeopardized by violence, exploitation, and a lack of support,” he said.

Jennicet Gutiérrez, co-executive director of Familia: TQLM, an organization that advocates on behalf of transgender and gender non-conforming immigrants, noted to the Blade a trans woman who has asked for asylum in the U.S. “has been patiently waiting in Tijuana” for more than six months “for her CBP One application response.”

“Now she feels uncertain if she will ever get the chance to cross to the United States,” said Gutiérrez.

She added Trump’s election “is going to be devastating for LGBTQ+ asylum seekers.”

“Transgender migrants are concerned about the future of their cases,” said Gutiérrez. “The upcoming administration is not going to prioritize or protect our communities. Instead, they will prioritize mass deportations and incarceration.”

TransLatin@ Coalition President Bamby Salcedo echoed Gutiérrez.

“Trans people who are immigrants are getting the double whammy with the new administration,” Salcedo told the Blade. “As it is, trans people have been political targets throughout this election. Now, with the specific target against immigrants, trans immigrants will be greatly impacted.”

Trans Queer Pueblo is a Phoenix-based organization that provides health care and other services to undocumented LGBTQ immigrants and migrants of color. The group, among other things, also advocates on behalf of those who are in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers.

“We refuse to wait for politicians to change systems that were designed to hurt us,” Trans Queer Pueblo told the Blade in a statement. “The elections saw both political parties using our trans and migrant identities as political pawns.”

Trans Queer Pueblo acknowledged concerns over the incoming administration’s immigration policies. It added, however, Arizona’s Proposition 314 is “our biggest battle.”

Arizona voters last month approved Proposition 314, which is also known as the Secure the Border Act.

Trans Queer Pueblo notes it “makes it a crime for undocumented people to exist anywhere, with arrests possible anywhere, including schools and hospitals.” The group pointed out Proposition 314 also applies to asylum seekers.

“We are building a future where LGBTQ+ migrants of color can live free, healthy, and secure, deciding our own destiny without fear,” Trans Queer Pueblo told the Blade. “This new administration will not change our mission — we’re ready to keep fighting.”

Contreras stressed Bienestar “remains committed to advocate for the rights and safety of all migrants and asylum seekers.” Gutiérrez added it is “crucial for LGBTQ+ migrants to know that they are not alone.”

“We will continue to organize and mobilize,” she said. “We must resist unjust treatments and laws.”

A portion of the fence that marks the Mexico-U.S. border in Tijuana, Mexico. LGBTQ asylum seekers and migrants are bracing for the second Trump administration. (Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

VIENNA CAVAZOS (they/them) is the Diversity Lead and LGBTQIA+ Public Policy Specialist at Bulletproof Pride.

Protecting trans rights

is a moral duty, not a liability Incoming administration seeks to define us out of existence

Nov. 20 marked Transgender Day of Remembrance — an international day of mourning where the trans community and its allies come together to honor and mourn those lost to violence, hate crimes, and suicide. Much of this violence is fueled by discriminatory policies and deep-seated hatred against transgender people.

Yet, just two days before TDOR, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) introduced HR1579, a transphobic resolution aimed at prohibiting “members, officers, and employees of the House from using single-sex facilities other than those corresponding to their biological sex.” The resolution’s definition of “single-sex facilities” goes beyond restrooms to include changing rooms and locker rooms within the Capitol or House Office buildings.

This resolution is a blatant attempt to ban Rep.-Elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), the first openly transgender congresswoman, from using women’s bathrooms and locker rooms in Congress. Far-right Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) claimed that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) expressed support for the resolution behind closed doors, stating, “He committed to me, there in the conference, that Sarah McBride will not be using our restrooms.” In an interview, Rep. Mike Johnson doubled down: “For anyone who doesn’t know my established record on this issue, let me be unequivocally clear: a man is a man, and a woman is a woman, and a man cannot become a woman.”

Both Greene and Mace repeatedly misgendered McBride on social media and in comments to reporters. On Transgender Day of Remembrance itself, Speaker Johnson declared McBride would be treated as a man under House rules, forcing her to use men’s restrooms or gender-neutral facilities.

Mace claimed her actions were about “safety,” even suggesting McBride could pose a threat of sexual assault. However, during an appearance on Greg Kelly Reports, Mace went full mask off, calling it “offensive” that McBride could consider herself her equal.

This decision and language is more than offensive — it is outright discriminatory. McBride will have no other choice but to walk to her office every time she needs to use the restroom, unable to access the common bathrooms like her colleagues. Additionally, the resolution jeopardizes the safety of hundreds of transgender staffers, all of whom lack McBride’s visibility or privilege. Trans staffers have long used restrooms matching their gender identity without issue, but this policy opens the door to increased harassment and exclusion, with reports of such incidents already surfacing.

In the Delaware State Senate, Sarah McBride championed policies like paid family leave. The idea that she’s a danger to others is laughable. The real danger to others lies in the multiple Republican cabinet nominations with histories of sexual assault and abuse.

If a respected lawmaker who happens to be transgender is considered a threat, where does that leave the rest of the trans community?

In the wake of Kamala Harris’s election loss, trans people have been used as scapegoats, with moderate Democrats and political pundits alike calling them political liabilities. For the past few weeks, we’ve seen op-eds in the New York Times and Washington Post claiming that trans rights have gone too far and are political bombs.

How dare they? In the face of violent transphobia in our nation’s Capitol, now is the time to strengthen support for our transgender siblings. The moment the public and political establishment abandon transgender Americans, is the moment we’ve entered the last steps of the waltz into fascism.

The mere presence of a transgender woman in power asking to be treated as an equal has sent the GOP into a media frenzy. Mace has been running to Fox News and Newsmax to attack her future co-worker. She’s been obsessively posting on X (formerly Twitter) about Sarah McBride and “men in women’s spaces.”

Mike Johnson’s seeming endorsement of a “separate but equal” framework also evokes painful memories of segregationists during the Civil Rights Movement. This behavior is not only unacceptable but shines a light on the long history of white far-right politicians from the South fighting for their “right” to discriminate.

This isn’t a culture war thing; this is a fight for our very right to exist. Transgender Americans are facing a crisis. The incoming administration seeks to define us out of existence: they want us to detransition, to hide, to live in fear. They want us to remain in the closet.

For many, the closet is deadly. Trans people already die by suicide at higher rates, denying us the right to exist will only skyrocket the mental health crisis in America. Since Nov. 5 alone, the Trevor Project, a crisis organization for LGBTQ youth, reported a heartbreaking 700% increase in calls. People are dying now, and now is the time to protect trans people.

McBride issued a statement saying that while she “disagrees” with the rules, she will comply. Unsurprisingly, McBride’s compliance was not the end of the conversation. Mace introduced a bill to ban transgender people from using bathrooms matching their gender identity in federally owned spaces, from national parks to major airports. Mace declared on social media, “This fight isn’t over just yet. We want to ban men from women’s spaces in EVERY federal building, school, public bathroom, everywhere.”

Adding to this, Congress’s gendered dress code could also be weaponized to further degrade and bully McBride, targeting her presentation or honorifics. This was never about bathrooms, safety, or fairness—it has always been about control and erasing transgender people from public life.

Despite these attacks, multiple studies have found no evidence supporting claims that transgender people pose safety threats in bathrooms. Yet transphobic rhetoric dominated the 2024 election, with anti-trans ads like “Kamala is for they/them; President Trump is for you,”, signs targeting McBride at polling places in Delaware, and violent vitriol aimed at dehumanizing transgender Americans.

This tidal wave of hate culminates in the upcoming Supreme Court case, U.S. v. Skrmetti, a case that will determine whether bans on gender-affirming care for youth are unconstitutional. The stakes are high: 27 states already ban gender-affirming care, and 26 have implemented restrictions on trans youth in sports. With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and a Republican-controlled government, the situation doesn’t look great.

Defending McBride is the easiest way to signal support for trans people. This is about more than supporting one congresswoman — it’s about standing for the safety, dignity, and respect of every transgender American. We need leaders who will defend us in the face of the fascistic far-right.

As trans people, we recognize the emergency facing our community and are screaming our lungs out to a party that is considering abandoning us. It’s been said again and again but we need each other now more than ever.

LGBTQ voters pay attention to which representatives support and fight for their right to exist. According to the 2022 U.S. Transgender Survey’s Civic Engagement data, 82% of eligible transgender individuals are registered to vote. In the 2020 presidential election, 75% of eligible respondents reported voting, compared to 67% of the general U.S. population. Furthermore, initial exit polls showed that LGBTQIA+ voters overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris.

The Democratic Party is at a crossroads: Will they fight for equality or allow the GOP’s attacks to stain their legacy and lose a vital and engaged voting bloc?

The truth is stark: transgender Americans deserve to exist without fear. This fight is about more than politics — it’s about life and death. In the reality we woke up to on Nov. 6, trans people and LGBTQ rights in general are on the chopping block.

Democrats have the chance to make history by standing on the right side of it. The fight for trans liberation is far from over, but this moment demands strong, progressive leadership. The future of the party — and our country—depends on it.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Will RFK Jr.’s ideas cause illness and death?

A danger to the children of the nation, and the world, if confirmed

We are looking at having our ideas of good healthcare turned upside down. This will happen if RFK Jr., whose ideas on healthcare have been widely discredited, is confirmed as Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy thinks vaccines hurt people. He believes a measles epidemic in our country is better than children getting a measles vaccine. Brian Deer writes in the New York Times, during a measles outbreak in Samoa, “Kennedy sent the prime minister of Samoa a four-page letter. In it, he suggested the measles vaccine itself may have caused the outbreak.” He wrote in his role as the chairman of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group. “By the time a door-to-door vaccination campaign brought the calamity to a close, more than 80 children had died.” Imagine him writing that letter as U.S. Secretary of HHS.

Kennedy supports the discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism. In 2023, he even said the polio vaccine, which has basically eradicated polio, “did more harm than good.” The Times wrote, “Mr. Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has also spent years working abroad to undermine policies that have been pillars of global health policy for a half-century, records show.”

Today most people don’t even know what diphtheria is, outside of the historical context. If they do it’s most likely because they have scrutinized a childhood immunization schedule and know it’s the “D” in the DTaP vaccine. “Vaccine breakthroughs over the past two centuries have cumulatively made the modern world a far more hospitable place to be born. For most of human history, half of all children died before reaching age 15; that number is down to just 4 percent worldwide, and far lower in developed countries, with vaccines one of the major drivers of improved life expectancy.” So, one has to question how someone like RFK Jr., with his warped view of vaccines for children, will impact their lives. How many will become ill, or die, because of him?

It’s not just children’s vaccines we have to question Kennedy on. What will he do if we have another pandemic, and there surely will be one. Will he agree the government should support research to develop a vaccine, or will he oppose funding? Will he support the World Health Organization, or will we see the United States withdraw from it? What about the continued research at NIH, which supports development of a vaccine to end HIV/AIDS? What does he now believe is the cause of AIDS? Will he end the studies at NIH to aid in the search for a vaccine to end prostate cancer? Or will he determine it is better to let millions die, rather than develop these vaccines.

We have to ask whether he will stop Medicare and Medicaid from covering the cost of vaccines for those who want them, and can’t otherwise afford them. Will he work to stop mandates to have children vaccinated before they enter school? These are just some of the questions the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, and the Senate Finance Committee, which typically hold the confirmation hearings for Secretary of Health and Human services nominees, should be asking RFK Jr. They must grill him on where he gets his medical information, and what research he bases his positions on, with regard to all these issues. Add issues like his position on removing fluoride from the water, and allowing raw milk to be sold. Let’s be clear: Our children’s lives are literally at stake here.

It might be interesting to ask him whether he asked Trump if his children were vaccinated, and if Ivanka and Jared have had their children vaccinated. I have yet to hear any media person ask Trump about this, or ask Ivanka and Jared their thoughts on RFK Jr. The committees must ask whether he believes vaccines should be available for children whose parents want them, and whether he will mandate insurance pay for them?

Yes, RFK Jr. has some positions I agree with. He wants to get dyes out of our foods as California Gov. Gavin Newsom is doing in his state. RFK Jr. has promoted healthier diets for children, more fruits and vegetables, something Michelle Obama has been doing for years. But we must recognize doing these things will be worthless if we let children get ill, or die, by not vaccinating them. RFK Jr. is an embarrassment to his own family with his unsubstantiated claims on a host of issues, and he will be a danger to the children of the nation, and the world, if confirmed.

SA’ED ATSHAN is associate professor of Peace and Conflict Studies and Anthropology at Swarthmore College. He is author of ‘Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique.’ SHARON KLEINBAUM is the Senior Rabbi Emerita of Congregation Beit Simchat Torah in New York City, the largest LGBTQ Synagogue in the world. She is the co-founder and board member of New York Jewish Agenda and a progressive Zionist dedicated to non-violence.

A queer prayer for nonviolence in Israel/Palestine

We reject binary choices presented by many in our communities

In this critical moment, our voices — one a lesbian rabbi raised in suburban New Jersey, and the other, a gay professor raised in Ramallah — draw upon the legacies of Jewish and Palestinian peace activists who have come before us, to call for a new path forward rooted in nonviolence. We reject the binary choices presented by so many in each of our communities – the struggle for Israel/Palestine is not a sports game in which only one side can win and that requires the other to lose.

There is no way forward in which the other is dehumanized. Our commitment to nonviolence means that language and actions both must be nonviolent and infused with the commitment to see the humanity in each other. As the great American pacifist Rev. AJ Muste said, “there is no way to peace, peace is the way.” And peace is not sustainable without justice and equality.

Neither of us is naïve. Neither of us imagines this is a kumbaya moment for simplistic slogans about peace. We are each horrified and shattered by the attacks of Oct. 7. We are crushed and outraged by the decades of occupation, the endless targeting of citizens, and state-sponsored violence and daily humiliations. We demand and pray for the return of the hostages. We are outraged by the destruction of Gaza in the spasms of revenge. We are horrified and mourn the death of so many innocent civilians both in Gaza and in Israel in this ongoing cycle of terrible violence. We see and call out and object to the daily violence against Palestinians on the West Bank, the unchecked violence in Arab Israeli communities abandoned by the government, the displacement of Israeli Jews terrified about the attacks from Gaza, from Lebanon, from Iran and from the Houthis.

We can hold all the suffering of both peoples. We cry out and mourn and scream. We can also acknowledge the profound asymmetry in power between Israel and the Palestinian nation under its control.

We don’t necessarily agree on everything. But we do know that the way forward is NOT more violence. That every retaliation for a past horror will only bring more horror – it will not bring security or liberation for anyone. There are seven million Palestinians and seven million Jews living in the region, with millions in diaspora communities waiting for the right to return to their ancestral lands. No one is going anywhere, as so many of our friends in the Palestinian-Jewish movement for peace and social justice in Isra-

el/Palestine often say: The only future is a shared future.

We are currently dominated by narratives of revenge and hostility. What is conspicuously absent is the transformative potential of nonviolence, a principle that both of us aspire to as a bedrock principle. Mahatma Gandhi’s words resonate with us: after the horrific Amritsar Massacre in 1919, he proclaimed, “Non-violence is a weapon of the strong.” Nonviolence requires immense strength and resilience. As pacifists, we are certainly not passive.

We must critically examine the protests that have arisen in response to violence, often labeled “pro-Israel” or “pro-Palestine.” While these demonstrations stem from genuine concerns, they often deepen divisions, feeding the narratives of extremist leaders and factions of both Israelis and Palestinians. Extremists thrive on conflict, instrumentalizing victimhood to justify their actions and to further their own power. This cycle ends up feeding the extremes on the other “side” who point to the extremism as justification for their own. The language used in legitimate and important protest - whether “Pro-Israel” or “Pro-Palestine” must never lose sight of the humanity of the other.

It is essential for us to challenge the binary narratives that keep us locked in opposition.

The impulse to retaliate in the face of violence is a deeply human reaction but it is not the way to create a different future. We must create a growing force of Palestinians and Jews who are committed to resisting the extremism in our communities in Israel/Palestine and in the United States to reject the political leadership that is leading us into mutual extinction. We must create a different way forward.

We must develop different muscles. Muscles that are not impulsive acts of violent revenge, but muscles that insist on separating political leadership from the societies they only pretend to represent. Each of us in our lives has called out the political leadership of our people for abandoning their people. We demand accountability. We will continue to do so for as long as we have breath.

Our commitment to nonviolence requires courage. We must create spaces where voices of peace are amplified and where stories of those who dare to envision a different future are shared. We must reject efforts that dehumanize, threaten, and use violence in language, slogans, or chants against the innocent.

Ultimately, the path forward lies in our ability to forge connections — not just between Palestinians and Jews but among all who seek justice and peace in both process and goal throughout our broken world.

There is a tsunami of hate and extremism in our world. Insisting over and over again on the humanity of each of us, one by one, conversation by conversation is the only way forward. In this as in so many things, no one can do everything, but each of us can do something. If we don’t find a way to create the conditions of a shared future, we will only all go up in flames.

We stand together in the breach calling upon others to join us in demanding a different future from the past and the present. We will not abandon each other. Through our friendship, and our shared commitment to queer liberation, we pray for an immediate end to the bloodshed and for the affirmation of the dignity and sanctity of all lives.

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Best books to give as gifts this holiday season

History, activism, biographies — and Cher!

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

So you looked at the calendar the other day and — eeeek!

The holidays are almost here and you’re not ready. Out of ideas for gifts? How about a book?

Is there an activist for justice on your gift list? Then they’ll be happy to open “Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City’s Soul” by Aran Shetterly (Amistad, $28.99), It’s a story of the Klan, white supremacy, racial conflict, and how it fits in with what’s going on in America today. Pair it with “Sidney Poitier: The Great Speeches of an Icon Who Moved Us Forward” complied by Joanna Poitier, edited by John Malahy (Running Press, $29). Bonus: This inspiring book is packed with photos.

Fiction for the LGBTQ Reader

If there’s someone on your gift list who’d enjoy a coming-of-age story, “Shae” by Mesha Maren (Algonquin Books, $28.00) is a good choice to give. It’s a boy-meets-girl tale, but when a pregnancy happens, it spurs bigger changes in their lives than just parenthood.

If a fun little rom-com is what your giftee loves to read, then look for “We Could Be Heroes” by Philip Ellis (Putnam, $20). It’s a light tale of a chance encounter and a friendship that starts out small and becomes pretty super. You might want to wrap it up with “Love and Hot Chicken” by Mary Liza Hartong (Wm. Morrow, $30), a sweet, funny story of two Tennessee women, a chicken shack, and amour.

If your giftee loves rom-coms, there are a bunch to choose from this season. Consider “The Ride of Her Life” by Jennifer Dugan (Avon, $17.99), a girl-meets-girl novel of a new ranch-owning horsey-girl and the farrier who disagrees with her ranching ideas.

Nonfiction for the LGBTQ Reader

The person on your gift list who loves memoirs will devour “Cactus Country” by Zoe Bossiere (Abrams Press, $27.00), the story of an 11-year-old and a new start in which everyone sees him as the boy he is. But life as a trans boy isn’t easy in the beautiful area he’s come to embrace, and neither are the people who surround him. Wrap it up with “The Long Hallway” by Richard Scott Larson (University of Wisconsin Press, $21.95), a memoir of a boy who identifies with a movie monster who helps him see that hiding parts of himself can help him come to terms with who he is.

For the trans man or woman on your gift list, look for “The Last Time I Wore a Dress” by Dylan Scholinski and Jane Meredith Adams (Penguin Publishing), a story of abuse, bullying, mental anguish, and a happy ending. This book was first published more than 25 years ago but now has a new, satisfying and joyful ending. Wrap it up with “Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found” by Nikkya Hargrove, the tale of a love, responsibility, and more love.

If your giftee is exploring their sexuality, “Fierce Desires: A New History of Sex and Sexuality in America” by Rebecca L. Davis (Norton, $35) might be a welcome gift. Have we come a long way, in understanding people’s sexuality? Yes and no – your giftee may have ideas about that.

Biography

Did your giftee spend a childhood immersed in books about growing up? If so, they’ll cherish those memories when they read “The Genius of Judy” by Rachelle Bergstein (One Signal Publishers, $28.99). This biography fills readers in on who Judy Blume was, why she wrote the novels she penned, and how her stories fit in with today’s adolescence, feminism, current events, and literature. Wrap it up with this great biography: “Rulebreaker: The Life and Times of Barbara Walters” by Susan Page (Simon & Schuster $30). It’s the story of Walters, her times, and her impressive works.

If your giftee is riled by this year’s politics and feminism, then they’ll love reading “A WellTrained Wife” by Tia Levings (St. Martin’s Press, $30). It’s the story of Levings’s life as a wife in a Christian patriarchy-based marriage, the submissiveness, the expectations, and her ultimate resistance. The right kind of giftee will love this book completely.

The British history lover on your list will absolutely want “The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV” by Helen Castor (Avid Reader Press, $35). This book takes a deep dive into history, the lives of two cousins, and a shocking assumption to the throne. Pair it with a bookmark and “Henry V: The Astonishing Triumph of England’s Greatest Warrior King” by Dan Jones (Viking, $35), a book about the life and times of this English king in the fifteenth century.

For the person on your gift list who loves music, “How Women Made Music: A Revolutionary History from NPR Music” edited by Alison Fensterstock (HarperOne, $40) is exactly the right gift. It’s a look at female musicians from the 1920s to more recent years, from country

music to hip hop to guitar players and beyond. Wrap it up with “I Heard There Was a Secret Chord: Music as Medicine” by Daniel J. Levitin (Norton, $32.50), a book about music and how it contributes to healing and well-being.

“Friendly Fire: A Fractured Memoir” by Paul Rousseau (Harper Horizon, $29.99) may be the exact right gift for anyone who loves a unique memoir. Just before he graduated from college, Rousseau was shot in the head accidentally. How he survived, both physically and in the friendship with the man who shot him is the basis of this very well-done book.

The science-minded person on your gift list will be happy to have “The Elements of Marie Curie: How the Glow of Radium Lit a Path for Women in Science” by Dava Sobel (Atlantic Monthly Press, $30). Chances are, your giftee knows exactly who Madame Curie was, but do they know about the women who came after her in the laboratory. This book tells the tale in an engaging, interesting way.

For your fashionista who loves make-up, “Becoming Elizabeth Arden: The Woman Behind the Global Beauty Empire” by Stacy A. Cordery (Viking, $35) could be the best gift beneath the tree this year. It’s a sweeping story of a businesswoman, glamour maven, revolutionary, visionary, her work, her times, and the controversy she lit.

And don’t forget queer icon Cher’s new book, “Cher, The Memoir Part One,” filled with no-nonsense anecdotes about her rocky rise to fame. Fellow queer icon RuPaul also published his biography earlier this year, “The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir.”

Politics

Was your giftee dismayed at the political landscape for the past few years? Then “Good Reasonable People” by Keith Payne (Viking, $29.00) should be the book you wrap up to give. There is a way back to unity and away from polarization, Payne says, and with an explanation of the psychology and behind it, it’s do-able.

Be sure you know where your giftee’s politics lie if you wrap up “The MAGA Diaries” by Tina Nguyen (One Signal Publishers, $28.00). Nguyen cut her teeth in the conservative movement, though she never felt entirely comfortable there. Eventually, she needed to get out; how she did it is a story the right giftee will love.

The person on your list who’s mourning the end of the political season, will be happy to get “The Handy Civics Answer Book: How to Be a Good Citizen” by David L. Hudson, Jr. J.D. (Visible Ink Press, $29.99). It’s a large, heavy book about our American documents, the Amendments they should know about, what it means to be a “good citizen,” and more.

Remember the Reagan years? For your giftee that does, too, “Dear Mom and Dad” by Patti Davis (Liveright, $27.99) will be a great gift to unwrap. Davis, of course, was the Reagans’ daughter, and this love letter to family and country is perfectly appropriate this year.

Here’s a political issue your activist will want to know more about: “The Stolen Wealth of Slavery: A Case for Reparations” by David Montero (Legacy Lit, $29). Part history, part business, part eye-opener, this book is one of the better looks at this controversial subject. Season’s readings!

Part one of Cher’s biography makes a great gift this year.

Friday, December 06

CALENDAR |

“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 in the City” at 7 p.m. at P.F. Chang’s. 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, December 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 information and events for LGBTQ People of Color, visit thedccenter.org/poc or facebook.com/ centerpoc.

Sunday, December 08

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

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

OUT & ABOUT

D.C. LGBTQ community to gather for post-election dialogue

Several leading LGBTQ organizations in D.C. are coming together to make sense of the recent election and to discuss the future of advocacy and resilience as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office. With Republicans in firm control of the federal government after winning majorities in the House and Senate, many are concerned about attacks on the LGBTQ community, including Trump’s pledge to ban trans people from serving in the military. In addition, many LGBTQ federal workers have expressed concerns about being targeted for reassignment or termination, as outlined in Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for Trump’s second term.

In response, D.C.’s LGBTQ community is coming together for an event on Thursday, Dec. 12, 6:30-8 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.) featuring an array of speakers who will address issues, including: an-

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Monday, December 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,

December 10

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

Wednesday, December 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, December 12

Virtual Yoga with Sarah 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.

ticipated policy shifts; community resilience strategies; legal rights; immigration advocacy; and federal workers’ rights.

The event, titled, “Charting Our Future: LGBTQ+ Advocacy & Resilience in a Changing Landscape” is free; visit washingtonblade.com/future to RSVP.

The event is being hosted by the Washington Blade and includes community partners: the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, HME Consulting & Advocacy, Eaton DC, DC LGBTQ+ Community Center, Capital Pride Alliance, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs. Heidi Ellis of the DC LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition will moderate. A list of speakers will be released later this week.

Come unleash your inner artist at the DC Center

“Watercolor Painting with Center Aging” will be on Thursday, Dec. 12 at 12 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community.

More than 80,000 people

In this winter-themed painting class for seniors led by local artist Laya Monarez, guests will learn about watercoloring techniques, be given a demonstration, and allowed to create their own watercolor pieces. There will also be a break for lunch and plenty of snacks throughout. For more details, visit the DC Center’s website.

joined the 2017 Equality March for Unity & Pride following Donald Trump’s 2016 victory. As Trump prepares to return to power, the local community is gathering to talk resistance and resilience.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

‘Finn’ a heartwarming theater debut for acclaimed TV producer

Chris Nee’s joyful musical highlights

a shark’s coming-of-age story

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Acclaimed children’s television screenwriter and producer Chris Nee is currently making her theater debut at the Kennedy Center with “Finn,” her heartwarming musical about a young shark who dreams of following in his family’s footsteps by joining the prestigious Shark Guard and the challenges and moments of self-discovery he faces along the way.

Los Angeles-based Nee, who is gay, is best known for being the creator of the hugely popular Disney animated series “Doc McStuffins” (the first Disney show to air an episode featuring an interracial lesbian couple) as well as other kids’ shows “Ridley Jones” and “Vampirina.”

For “Finn,” Nee (playwright/lyrics) has collaborated with stage and screen songwriters Michael Kooman (music) and Christopher Dimond (playwright/lyrics) who have scored her animated TV shows for seven years.

WASHINGTON BLADE: What’s special about “Finn”?

CHRIS NEE: “Finn” is a total joy bomb and we can all use that right now. It’s deeply important to me that what I do works both for kids as well as a lot of layers for adults. The musical started as a bold show before everything that’s happening in the world right now, and now it’s even more bold.

In the show, we tell the story of a shark who has a very different way of being himself but is also very good at being a shark. It’s very important for us to not predetermine who our kids are and we need to let them find the things that will ultimately bring them joy.

BLADE: And it’s a story you’ve wanted to tell?

NEE: Yes. It’s a coming-of-age story that’s also infused with spectacle. It’s about the beauty of life under the sea, and the beauty of a character who has a wonderful drag sensibility and knows what it is to express himself. The show and the world are really about self-expression and not being afraid to let your inner sparkles out if that’s what feels right to you.

It relates to anyone in the audience whether they’re an adult who remembers what it was like to hide something, or a young a person who feels that way. I think it gives them the courage to say who they are and live unapologetically.

BLADE: Has this work felt a lot different from TV?

NEE: Making “Finn”with Kooman and Dimond hasbeen agreat collaborative process. Working with them on TV, I was very much the one in control, I’d tell them what we needed a song to be. But in theater, they’ve had more experience in the process. Together we’ve made something that is premiering very quickly in terms of musical theater. We got very lucky.

BLADE: You’re a big name at Disney.How does working at the Kennedy Center compare to L.A.?

NEE: The Kennedy Center has been wonderful!They commissioned the work in the beginning and have been supporting us throughout. To be honest, there aren’t that many places left that are commissioning new works especially for young audiences, and the Kennedy Center does that.

BLADE: Your son is grown now. Has being a parent affected your work?

NEE: I spent years in the world making children programming long before I had a child. I had a belief that you don’t have to have kids to be funny. Great writers for kids remember their own childhoods and write for an imagined audience. Once you have a kid, your brain goes into different place. Since he was little, I’d play songs for him. I’d tell him stories that were going to be episodes. I have video recordings of him seeing the character designs for the first time, and my getting his reaction to new work.

BLADE: Did his humor influence you?

NEE: I like to think my sense of humor shaped him.

BLADE: Was it a longtime dream to do a live musical?

NEE: I worked in theater for a couple years after graduating from college. I never thought I’d leave theater and New York. But a job on “Sesame Street” led to an unex-

pected journey to Los Angeles and children’s television.

Kooman and Dimond knew I wanted to find my way back into the theater. I mean, who doesn’t want to write a musical? But I didn’t have the hubris to think I could just jump into that space. But two years ago, they asked me to write a musical with them. I replied “absolutely!” And here I am.

‘Finn’ Through Dec. 22 | The Kennedy Center 2700 F St. N.W., Washington, DC 20566 | Tickets starting at $22 | Kennedy-center.org

CHRIS NEE (Photo courtesy Nee)

Jolie delivers diva perfection as ‘Maria’

A fascinating film addressing matters of life and death

By JOHN PAUL KING

In today’s world, it’s difficult to imagine that an opera singer could achieve the kind of international fame and popularity enjoyed by modern musical artists like Lady Gaga or Taylor Swift, yet that is exactly what Maria Callas did.

Possessed of a singular, inimitable, and often controversial vocal talent, she rose to the height of her profession and became a world-class artist, performing on international stages and moving within a circle that included the wealthiest, most influential and powerful people of her era. Her private life, which included a long-running affair with mega-rich Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis and a reputation for temperament that matched or exceeded expectation for a diva of her stature, was the stuff of gossip columns, and her stature as an artist was such that any scandals that might have arisen there had little impact on her reputation for the millions of fans who adored her.

Even now, nearly 50 years after her untimely death (she was only 53) in 1977, her name is still spoken with reverence among those who belong to the still-potent “cult of personality” that made her an object of near-worship, and even if you’re not an opera fan, a listen to any of the magnificent recordings she left as her legacy is enough to help you understand why. Not only did the woman have a gift for singing, she had a way of inhabiting the music she sang so completely that it seemed to belong solely to her, as if it came fully formed into the world through her own being, no matter how many other great vocalists had sung it before.

Yet the Callas we meet in Pablo Larrain’s “Maria,” a speculative biographical fantasia about the final week in the diva’s tumultuous life that premiered in competition for the prestigious “Golden Lion” award at the 2024 Venice film festival and drops on Netflix Dec. 13 following a limited theatrical release, is but a comparative shadow of that once-renowned formidable persona. Her health failing, her voice diminished, and her mind drifting between morose contemplation of her decline and drug-addled delusions of returning to her former glory, she holds a reclusive and tenuous dominion over her Paris apartment, engaged in a power struggle with her overprotective house servants and stubbornly ignoring doctor’s orders by pushing herself to regain the transcendent voice that had brought her success, fame, and a personal power that had helped her endure the traumas of a childhood in the Axis-occupied Greece of World War II.

means for Callas to overcome the oppression of men and claim personal power over her own life. From the fascist soldiers to whom her mother “pimped her out” in her youth to the coarse-but-doting plutocrats that have attempted to “possess” her in her adult life, she has maintained agency over them all through the gift of her vocal talent. Now, with full knowledge and acceptance that the final chapter of her life is being written, she has chosen to hold the pen firmly in her hand, asserting ownership over her own life by composing the end of its narrative for herself. It’s an unconventional path that she chooses, but how many truly great spirits ever settle for being conventional?

Whether or not she was ultimately victorious in this goal – either in her real life or in Larrain’s imagined rendering of it – might be something viewers have to decide for themselves. It’s hardly the point, however; what “Maria” conveys, more than any definitive truth about its legendary subject, is a suggestion that what matters is the fight, not the winning of it, and that perhaps the “win” is in the fight itself. Beyond that, it finds a metaphor in the diva’s willing descent into hallucinatory fantasy for engaging in a direct relationship with that part of our own nature that feels divine – one which manifests itself in our lives through many forms, be it a character in a centuries-old opera, an imagined collaboration with the long-dead composer who created it, or a fresh-faced TV interviewer (who may or not be real) with a knack for asking the questions you don’t want to answer.

The element that has sparked the most buzz about Larrain’s film, of course, is the work of its star.

Jolie, who trained to sing opera for seven months in preparation for the role (though she lip-syncs to recordings of the real Callas in flashbacks of the diva’s career highlights, it is her own voice we hear when she sings in the “present-day” scenes), doubtless brings some of her own experience to the table as a successful woman whose artistic triumphs always seem less important in the public eye than her personal relationships with men.

If so, it works beyond expectation, resulting in an old-school Hollywood star turn that dazzles us with its commitment to finding a human truth behind the veneer of glamour and moves us with the raw, unfiltered emotion she masterfully underplays throughout. Oscar talk is cheap, this early in “Awards Season,” but look for this performance to be a hot contender for a nod, and perhaps even a win.

That’s just on the surface, however. As rendered by Angelina Jolie in a career-topping performance, the Callas of “Maria” feels fully worthy of the still-imperious demeanor she wields against the world. Far from surrendering to the tragic downward spiral into which she has become entangled, she shines from within with a courageous – which is not the same thing as “fearless” – sense of self that infuses her seemingly desperate efforts to reclaim her former glory (for herself, at least, if not for public approval) and makes her story a tale of transcendent self-actualization rather than the tragic “dance with death” it might appear to be through a surface perspective.

After all, in Larrain’s vision (and the exquisitely nuanced screenplay by Steven Knight), Callas is seeking not to recapture her fame and fortune – those are hers for life, already – but to reclaim her voice. As plainly shown by the life told in bold strokes via the flashbacks interwoven throughout the film, music has been the

Yet even if she’s the main attraction, “Maria” boasts plenty of excellence all around, from a superb supporting cast to the luminous cinematography of Edward Lachman, which bathes the movie’s sumptuous interiors in the stained-glass color palette to conjure the bittersweet nostalgia of a beautiful world slipping away into oblivion. Knight’s intelligent script, crafted with the literary eloquence of a play, explores multiple facets of the diva’s life, while using it as a springboard into a meditation on loss, letting go, and embracing our own mortality even as we strive to touch the immortal. Finally, though, it’s Larrain’s direction that ties it all together, crafting a visually gorgeous, palpably intimate film that nevertheless delves deeply into some of the grandest aspects of our existence.

For opera lovers, of course, it’s a must-see. For the rest of us, however, it’s still a fascinating and deeply affecting film, addressing matters of life and death as vast as the ones that drove the timeless musical masterworks in which Callas made her name.

ANGELINA JOLIE stars in ‘Maria.’ (Image courtesy of Netflix)

Mother wages fight for trans daughter in new book

‘Beautiful Woman’ seethes with resentment, rattles bars of injustice

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

“How many times have I told you that...?” How many times have you heard that? Probably so often that, well, you stopped listening. From your mother, when you were very small. From your teachers in school. From your supervisor, significant other, or best friend. As in the new memoir “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman” by Abi Maxwell, it came from a daughter.

When she was pregnant, Abi Maxwell took long walks in the New Hampshire woods near her home, rubbing her belly and talking to her unborn baby. She was sure she was going to have a girl but when the sonogram technician said otherwise, that was OK. Maxwell and her husband would have a son.

But almost from birth, their child was angry, fierce, and unhappy. Just getting dressed each morning was a trial. Going outside was often impossible. Autism was a possible diagnosis but more importantly, Maxwell wasn’t listening, and she admits it with some shame.

Her child had been saying, in so many ways, that she was a girl.

Once Maxwell realized it and acted accordingly, her daughter changed almost overnight, from an angry child to a calm one – though she still, understandably, had outbursts from the bullying behavior of her peers and some adults at school. Nearly every day, Greta (her new name) said she was teased, called by her former name, and told that she was a boy.

Maxwell had fought for special education for Greta, once autism was confirmed. Now she fought for Greta’s rights at school, and sometimes within her own family. The ACLU got involved. State laws were broken. Maxwell reminded anyone who’d listen that the suicide rate for trans kids was frighteningly high. Few in her town seemed to care.

Throughout her life, Maxwell had been in many other states and lived in other cities. New Hampshire used to feel as comforting as a warm blanket but suddenly, she knew they had to get away from it. Her “town that would not protect us.”

When you hold “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman,” you’ve got more than a memoir in your hands. You’ve also got a white-hot story that seethes with anger and rightful resentment, that wails for a hurt child, and rattles the bars of injustice. And yet, it coos over love of place, but in a confused manner, as if these things don’t belong together.

Author Abi Maxwell is honest with readers, taking full responsibility for not listening to what her preschooler was saying-not-saying, and she lets you see her emotions and her worst points. In the midst of her community-wide fight, she reveals how the discrimination Greta endured affected Maxwell’s marriage and her health – all of which give a reader the sense that they’re not being sold a tall tale.

Read this book, and outrage becomes familiar enough that it’s yours, too. Read “One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman,” and share it. This is a book you’ll tell others about.

‘One Day I’ll Grow Up and Be a Beautiful Woman’

By Abi Maxwell

c.2024, Knopf | $28 | 307 pages

Memorial Quilt panels displayed on the South Lawn

World AIDS Day at the White House

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and activist Jeanne White-Ginder spoke at a commemoration of World AIDS Day at the White House on Sunday, Dec. 1. Panels of the AIDS Memorial Quilt were displayed on the South Lawn for the first time in U.S. history.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Yes, Virginia, there is down payment assistance Tax abatement,

homestead

deductions among options to research

By JOSEPH HUDSON

Let’s be honest – the average person in the Washington, D.C. area has not been living under a rock, knows how to Google whatever they are looking for, and probably has plenty of connections in their graduate program, place of employment, or at their family holiday dinner who can help them figure out how to purchase a home.

But there were lessons learned as I was working in real estate, that, otherwise, I wouldn’t have even known to ask about. In other words, “How do you know what you don’t even know?”

For example:

• Some lenders can help you find ways to pay off certain amounts of student loan debt before going to settlement. Depends on the jurisdiction you plan to buy in.

• Some down payment assistance loans are available in almost every state. Certain cities and counties have their own versions of this assistance. Some of these programs can be stacked up.

• In D.C., and in many other places, you are required to get a home inspection if you are receiving money from the government to buy a home. That way they aren’t giving you (or lending you) money to buy what Tom Hanks and Shelley Long would call a “Money Pit.” (If you haven’t seen that movie, do yourself a solid and watch it.)

• Did you know that certain lending institutions have what are called “Doctor’s Loans” for people with higher amounts of student loan debt?

• Some jurisdictions have various types of tax abatement for first-time homebuyers. Ask about topics such as “Tax Abatement” and “Homestead Deductions.” This will reduce your tax bill for a property that is owner occupied, OR delay paying property taxes for a set period of time.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of topics to consider. But it is meant as an idea generator. There could be some programs where you live that would help you find a way to get into homeownership, get out of paying high monthly rents, and start socking away a monthly investment. Is homeownership for everyone? Probably not. But for some people, including many of the clients I’ve worked with, it was an easy way to put a large sum of money away monthly. Eventually that money could become a nest egg for leveling up their housing, taking the money back for other purposes, or just one of the tools in their tool belt of personal wealth building.

JOSEPH HUDSON

is a referral agent with Metro Referrals. Reach him at 703-587-0597 or joemike76@gmail.com.

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Thank you for reading the Blade!

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

PROBATE DIVISION 2024 FEP 000127

October 3, 2022, Date of Death

Harold Albert Deadman, Jr., Name of Decedent

Notice of Appointment of Foreign Personal Representative and Notice to Creditors

Mary-Catherine Lois Deadman whose address is 12008 Park Shore Court, Woodbridge VA 22192 was appointed personal representative of the estate of Harold Albert Deadman, Jr., deceased, by the Circuit Court for Prince William County, Commonwealth of Virginia, on October 25, 2024.

Service of process may be made upon Erica F. Gloger, Griffin & Griffin LLP, 1320 19th Street NW, #800, Washington, DC 20036 whose designation as District of Columbia agent has been filed with the Register of Wills, D.C.

The decedent owned the following District of Columbia real property: 1304 Riggs Street NW, Washington, DC 20009. Claims against the decedent may be presented to the undersigned and filed with the Register of Wills for the District ofColumbia, Building A, 515 5th Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001 within 6 months from the date of first publication of this notice.

Date of first publication: November 29, 2024

/s/Mary-Catherine Deadman, Personal Representative, 703-307-6246, A True Test Copy /s/Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills.

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