Washington Blade, Volume 56, Issue 08, February 21, 2025

Queer D.C. takes lead in protesting Trump, PAGES 06, 08 & 10

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Death of D.C. gay robbery victim ruled a homicide

D.C. police announced on Feb. 15 that the death of gay DJ and hairstylist Bryan Smith, 39, who police say was assaulted and robbed Oct. 27, 2024, in the 500 block of T Street, N.W., has been ruled a homicide.

Police said Smith was found unconscious at about 5 a.m. on the street where they believed he was assaulted and robbed and taken to a D.C. hospital. A short time later he was transferred at the request of family members while in a coma to a Northern Virginia hospital, where he died on Nov. 7.

“On Thursday, February 13, 2025, the Northern Virginia Medical Examiner’s Office advised that the cause of death for the victim was blunt force trauma and the manner of death a homicide,” the D.C. police statement says.

The statement notes, as the Washington Blade and other media outlets have reported, that D.C. police on Nov. 14, 2024, arrested two juvenile males, 14 and 16 years of age, on robbery and assault charges in connection with the assault and robbery of Smith.

At the time of the arrest, police said they

had evidence showing the two juveniles were implicated in three other assault and robbery incidents that occurred on the same night as the assault and robbery of Smith in nearby locations.

According to the statement, D.C. police detectives are working with the Office of the D.C. Attorney General, which prosecutes crimes committed by juveniles, to determine whether “additional charges” should be brought against the two juveniles following the determination that Smith’s death was a homicide.

The arrest of the two juveniles was announced by D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith at a Nov. 15 press conference near the site where Smith was attacked.

“We are here today to announce the arrest of two suspects responsible for a

series of robberies in this community on Sunday, Oct. 27, including the robbery of 39-year-old Bryan Smith, who was walking home in the 500 block of T Street, N.W.,” Chief Smith told reporters attending the press conference.

“On behalf of the Metropolitan Police Department as well as myself, I send my deepest condolences to Mr. Smith’s family as well as his friends,” Chief Smith said.

“While nothing can undo this senseless loss, we hope today’s arrests are of some measure of justice and a step toward healing,” she said.

Chief Smith also said that police investigators had no evidence to indicate the assault and robbery of Bryan Smith was “motivated by hate or bias.”

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

D.C. activists protest for trans youth healthcare

About 100 activists protested outside of the offices of D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb on Thursday, Feb. 13. The assembled protesters held signs in support of access to gender-affirming care and support for trans youth.

The activists called upon the D.C. Attorney General to “issue public guidance affirming that denying care based on gender identity is unlawful under D.C.’s anti-discrimination laws as well as use the full authority vested in their office to ensure this care is reinstated,” according to a statement.

This action comes days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning gender-affirming care nationwide for minors. D.C. hospitals, including Children’s National Hospital, began to comply.

Speakers at the rally included Rebecca York, director of youth development and community engagement for the D.C.-area LGBTQ youth services organization, SMYAL.

“SMYAL has long been a partner of Children’s National, a partnership we have been incredibly proud of, especially working with their Pride Clinic team,” York told the crowd. “Their dedication to providing gender-affirming care has been a lifeline for many young people and their families in our communities, offering relief, comfort and hope. But now those lifelines have been cut off. We are incredibly disappointed in and concerned by the hospital’s decision to suspend gender-affirming care to comply — in advance — with the administration’s executive order attempting to restrict healthcare for trans youth.”

“This decision was made out of fear: the fear of losing funding,” York continued. “And it has abandoned the very

Comings & Goings

Marootian named CEO of UL Standards and Engagement

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Congratulations to Jeff Marootian, who was recently appointed president and CEO of UL Standards and Engagement (ULSE). The organization strives to create a safer, more sustainable world. As an accredited, globally influential standards development organization, it applies research and safety science to keep pace with new discoveries and technology.

Marootian has an extensive background in public service. He has led government organizations at the federal, state, and local levels. Most recently, he was the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Office of Energy Effi-

ciency and Renewable Energy, at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), managing a $3 billion innovation portfolio focused on advancing clean energy technologies. He previously served as a Senior Adviser to Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, and as a Special Assistant to the President for Climate and Science Personnel in the White House.

From 2017 to 2021, he was the director of the District Department of Transportation (DDOT), where he championed initiatives to improve transportation safety and reduce emissions in D.C. He drove the effort to develop standards for ridesharing, micromobility, and curbside management, and led critical infrastructure projects across the city including the reconstruction of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge. He also led the effort to pursue renovating “Dave Thomas Circle.”

Prior to that, he was appointed by President Obama

youth who need it most. This executive order, barely two weeks old has already had devastating impacts on the lives of trans and non-binary youth. These cruel policies are not abstract. They are real, they are dangerous and they are hurting our young people today.”

“Gender-affirming care saves lives for trans youth,” said York.

Also speaking at the event was Dr. Omar Taweh.

“In our youthful, vibrant, queer city, doctors provide compassionate care for trans people literally all the time.” Taweh told the assembled protesters. “And we’re just here to demand that our local government leaders, including AG Shwalb over here, join the rest of the states that are taking stances …to defend trans and gender-affirming care.”

Protesters formed a picket line and began a series of chants, including, “AG Schwab! Do your job!”

The action was organized by the Democratic Socialists of America.

to serve as the Assistant Secretary for Administration, and Chief Sustainability Officer, at the U.S. Department of Transportation. In that role he worked to advance sustainable transportation technologies and safer transportation systems across the country.

MICHAEL KEY

BRYAN SMITH (Photo via GoFundMe)

Activists hold signs and chant, ‘A.G. Schwab, do your job!’ while walking in a picket line outside of the D.C. Attorney General’s office. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

JEFF MAROOTIAN

Dancing protesters denounce Trump’s Kennedy Center takeover

‘This is an attack, not only on free speech, but on artists’

By JOE REBERKENNY

Waiting in the windy cold of a 45-degree February day in Washington, Tara Hoot stood in Washington Circle wearing a canary yellow dress, heels, and a rainbow feather boa. Hoot was waiting, along with about 100 others, although most of them were wearing layers of clothes, for a protest to begin.

“I am here because, well, I’m angry at the situation we find ourselves in,” Hoot told the Blade amid a growing crowd of pro-drag and pro-LGBTQ protesters who gathered behind her. “I’m just so annoyed that this sitting president is attacking a marginalized population. It’s a distraction for the country when everything’s falling apart. The cost of eggs is up there, and inflation is rising, and he’s here attacking a marginalized population in D.C.? It’s like, go do your job, right? It’s immoral what he’s doing, and it’s weak to attack the marginalized population. He’s just showing his own weakness.”

Last week President Trump promised followers that he would remove anyone that “do not share our vision for a Golden Age in Arts and Culture,” specifically targeting drag performers at the Kennedy Center. On Wednesday he made that goal a reality by removing the 18 Democratic members on the formerly bipartisan Kennedy Center board, replacing them with Trump loyalists.

This raised questions of the legality of removing the board, and his seeming attempt to silence First Amendment rights. As a result, the Kennedy Center issued a statement following Trump’s post.

“Per the Center’s governance established by Congress in 1958, the chair of the board of trustees is appointed by the Center’s board members,” the statement read. “There is nothing in the Center’s statute that would prevent a new administration from replacing board members; however, this would be the first time such action has been taken with the Kennedy Center’s board.”

Of the newly appointed board members, all have stood behind the twice impeached president as he continues to slash the federal government. These loyalists include Richard Grenell, a gay man who served as Trump’s ambassador to Germany in his first term; Usha Vance, the second lady of the United States; Susie Wiles, the White House chief of staff; and Patricia Duggan, a philanthropist and top GOP donor.

The newly appointed board then elected Trump as chair.

When asked what Hoot, a local drag icon who performed at the Kennedy Center multiple times, would say to the current board, she was quick with an answer.

“Well darling, they missed their chance!” Hoot said. “I was running for board president of the Kennedy Center, the people’s princess, I would say. Art is gorgeous and diverse and beautiful, and it’s a way that we all tell our stories. The board needs to keep the heart of the Kennedy Center in mind, no matter who their board chair is. They actually need to have a spine and push back when these ideas that art has to be one thing or another, the board needs to push back and keep the Kennedy Center a people’s place for art.”

Brooke N Hymen, a self-described “professional crossdresser” and trans person explained that to them, the changes in public attitude is more than a silencing of free speech, but an erasure of trans people.

“I find that attacks on drag are not just an attack on my heart, my livelihood, but also a veiled attack on trans people,” Hymen said. “They want to code trans people and what they do in their daily expression as drag as a way to ban trans people. So if we don’t stand up against these attacks on drag, trans people are the first people that will be harmed.”

Hymen went on to say there are clear and simple ways that the board could offset these actions that directly and negatively impact the LGBTQ community.

“More drag programming, more queer artists, more queer musicians, and more queer casts,” they said. “Tara Hoot was running for board of the Kennedy Center. I don’t know how possible that is under Trump, but I think that it’s a lovely sentiment and something that we should all push for.”

Putting Hoot back in the Kennedy Center was also on the mind of other participants of the protest dance party. John Borstel, a former arts administrator, also said that appointing someone like Hoot to the board would be beneficial—if only to ensure that someone would speak out at the Kennedy Center.

“Get out and let the bipartisan board back in,” Borstel said. “Get out and get people who know the arts back in. Let Tara Hoot in here! The drag queen who’s performed at the Kennedy Center. She’s been outspoken about this. She’s gone on record where the Biden appointed and ousted board members won’t even make a public statement about what happened. They’re afraid for themselves. We’ve got drag queens speaking out. The bureaucrats won’t speak up.”

His sentiment regarding the lack of response from former Kennedy Center officials was echoed in his grievances with other established members of the arts community who didn’t show up at the protest. It did make him proud in a unique way though.

“I have never been prouder than I am tonight, to be a gay man, to be queer, because it’s the queers who have come out to protest it — but it’s affecting everybody,” Borstel said. “He’s going to cut it all down. Everybody should be out here. I worked in the arts sector for over 30 years here. Where are those folks? But the queers are here. And they’re dancing!”

Bennet Shoop, one of the protest organizers with the Claudia Jones School for Political Education, told the crowd at Washington Circle—just before their march down New Hampshire Avenue to the front of the Kennedy Center—that drag is deeply intertwined with Washington’s history and that ignoring it means erasing that history.

“Drag is really important to D.C. and it’s important to D.C. history,” Shoop said to the diverse and growing crowd of people listening. “William Dorsey Swann was the first drag queen in the United States, an enslaved person who called themselves “the queen of drag,” who threw drag balls right here in this city. Drag is a D.C. institution, one that Trump has decided is going to be one of his top targets for his fascist administration. But it’s not just about drag performers at the Kennedy Center. This administration wants to remove all kinds of gender non-conformity and LGBTQ people at large from public life, just like the Nazis did at the Hirschfeld Institute when they burned all of those books.”

“This is D.C.,” he continued as the crowd cheered him on. “D.C. is the queerest city per capita in the United States. We may not have representation in the federal government, but we do have a fighting spirit…He could pass all the executive orders and do all of the fascist takeovers that he wants, but queer and trans people will still be here. You know, we will still dance, and that dance will long outlive them.”

One of those members of the LGBTQ community who resisted oppression through dance and protest, Shoop explained as he concluded his speech, could be credited with sparking the modern gay rights movement.

“Let us never forget that it was none other than drag king Stormé DeLarverie who inspired the Stonewall uprising that led to the gay liberation revolution of the ‘70s. Drag was a part of our revolution then, and it must be a part of our revolution now. I just want to end with a quote from the namesake of our school, Claudia Jones, who once said ‘that a people’s art is the genesis of their freedom.’ So like our predecessors, let this be the genesis of ours.”

Following speeches by the other organizing groups, the group of 200 or so walked in the middle of the road toward the Kennedy Center singing and occasionally stopping to dance. Onlookers from apartments along the road opened windows waving at the group, occasionally screaming words of support from stories up.

Continues at washingtonblade.com.

Protesters demonstrated at the Kennedy Center last week. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Federal workers, trans service members cope with Trump attacks

‘We could very easily be entering a Lavender Scare 2.0’

By JOE REBERKENNY

Since President Trump signed a series of executive orders rolling back federal worker protections, advocacy groups are ringing alarm bells signaling this could disproportionately impact more than 300,000 LGBTQ federal workers.

Trump has so far signed 65 executive orders, most of which attempt to shrink the size of the federal government and restructure how it works to better suit his interests. Of those 65 executive orders passed, at least six directly target LGBTQ people, one outright bans transgender people from serving in the military, and another ends all government efforts at promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

A study conducted in January by the Williams Institute, a research center that focuses on sexual orientation and gender identity law and public policy, showed that “one in ten LGBTQ adults are employed by the public sector,” with higher numbers of LGBTQ people working in federal government bureaus, the USPS, and as government contractors. This means that Trump’s orders could be particularly dangerous for LGBTQ Americans, potentially displacing hundreds of thousands of queer federal workers.

The Blade spoke with an LGBTQ executive branch employee who works directly with one of the resource groups targeted by the Trump administration to understand how these orders are being implemented internally. The source, fearing retaliation, requested anonymity.

“We had established lots of different things that were positive for LGBTQI+ employees to make sure that our identities were respected,” the source said. “What some folks may see as a simple thing like the allowance for pronouns in email signatures and the use of inclusive language, all those kinds of things are kind of in limbo right now. It’s fully expected to be said [by the Trump administration] that these things can’t be utilized anymore.”

The source noted that the public often misunderstands the role of these resource groups, making it harder to justify the need for such positions. A common misconception is that groups promoting DEI exist solely to hire minorities. Although part of their mission involves reaching historically underrepresented communities, their work extends far beyond recruitment, playing a crucial role in fostering inclusive workplace cultures and supporting employees.

“It’s just about creating that level playing field environment to make sure that you are doing the best for your organization to attract the best talent, and then the knowledge that it’s not just any one demographic that is best suited for a certain role,” they said. “Let me be very clear: It’s not about quotas, it’s not about checking boxes. It’s not about hiring one person on anything other than qualification over another. It’s about making sure that we’re looking at places where we may be missing opportunities for not just qualified candidates, but the best and brightest. And sometimes that means adjusting your recruitment style.”

This ongoing attack on DEI, as well as other efforts to promote inclusivity and fairness within the government by the twice-impeached president is a borrowed tactic from another infamous Republican who weaponized demagoguery to consolidate power — Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

“We could very easily be entering a Lavender Scare 2.0,” the source continued. “I mean, when you’re asking employees to rat on each other, basically, for anybody who might be involved in anything surrounding this work, it’s not unknown that a majority of folks who do diversity, equity, and inclusion work are members of minority, marginalized communities. It just painted a big target on the back of all those

people.”

When asked to speculate on what they think this could mean for the roughly three million federal workers, the source said it could lead to a chilling effect where LGBTQ employees either face direct removal or feel compelled to leave due to a hostile work environment.

“I see an exodus coming — whether it is forced or voluntary,” said the source. “I don’t see with all the progress that’s been made over the last two decades people willing to stay working for an organization where they don’t feel like they’re safe. If you feel like you don’t have the psychological safety to do your job, and you’re worried about whether you’re gonna get fired, it kind of kills your psychological availability to do your job. People are not engaged.”

Colonel Bree Fram, the highest-ranking out transgender officer in the Department of Defense, who spoke to the Blade in her personal capacity and does not speak on behalf of the U.S. government or military, agreed with the source’s thoughts on inclusive spaces being critical for the success of government work and safety.

“Any policy that excludes a class of individuals is inherently damaging to national security, because if those individuals can meet the standards of the service, if they can accomplish the mission that they’ve been given, they are participating in a way that makes us stronger,” Fram said. “We create better solutions from a diverse set of perspectives that allows us to accomplish the mission in ways that support national security objectives. So if there is a transgender service member out there excluded merely for who they are, rather than their ability to complete their mission it’s an issue for our national security today and far into the future, because we have thousands of transgender service members actively accomplishing the mission today. They are doing so in a way that meets, or, in most cases, exceeds the standards, because they are highly capable, competent warriors that have learned their skill set and mastered their craft over decades, they are crushing it on behalf of the United States and in upholding their oath to the Constitution.”

The executive branch source echoed that sentiment. Both sources agree that the removal of these policies has the real potential to harm the government’s ability to function as a resource for its people.

“It takes a special type of person to work for the government,” the source said. “You’re not going to get rich. You’re not going to make as much money, generally. In the private sector you would, especially for folks who work in some of these specialized areas. Why would you want to work somewhere that you’re going to go nowhere, and no matter how hard you work, you’re not going to get anything?”

Not only do government employees feel they can’t perform at a professional level with these executive orders, some have expressed that they fear for the personal lives of LGBTQ staff members now too.

“People are concerned,” Fram said. “People are worried about what will happen to people that they work with. When any leader sees someone in their organization having a difficult time or having something outside of what they need to focus on to accomplish their duties, it is our responsibility as a leader to help that person through those issues. That is what leaders within the military, I believe, are seeing right now. They see members of their military family hurting and concerned about what their future may be. As a leader, we want to take care of people so that they can take care of the mission and having to spend resources to take care of

people when they are hurt is very important, but it is also time consuming, and takes us away from things that we do need to be focused on.”

To find “things that we need to focus on,” is easier said than done. Fram said that for LGBTQ members of the federal workforce, specifically trans members of the military, it’s not only the fight against unjust actions and rhetoric from Trump, but also internally within the service members themselves.

“The challenge all of us face is, how do we determine and know our own self worth?” Fram asked. “Do we let an outside source define who we are? For transgender people, that is a deep strength of ours. … We know what to focus on. We know that we are who we are. We exist, and it is our deep duty and responsibility to care about future generations and protecting and defending our freedoms.”

When asked how to support people in these groups as workplace inclusion shifts away from being a standard part of their professional environment, Fram had a simple answer: listen to those who are being excluded.

“I believe the most powerful thing any of us have is our story,” Fram said. “Our story of courage and commitment and development and capability, how we serve, how we accomplish the missions that we’ve been given. So the best thing people can possibly do right now is share our stories, connect with our humanity, understand who we are in reality, not the rhetoric being used to demonize us. Trans people are a small portion of the population, so it’s easy to hate who you don’t know or don’t understand or have never met. So meet a trans person, read their story, share their story, and your perceptions may change.”

The Blade reached out to the Trump-Vance administration for comment but did not receive a response.

In the long run, Fram explained, vilifying and marginalizing people for who they are ultimately harms the cohesive team dynamics essential to achieving a common goal — whether on the battlefield or in the boardroom.

“What we’ve learned from countless examples through history, for trans people, for lesbians, gays, and bisexuals, and for other groups, anyone really who had to hide a piece of their identity in order to serve,” Fram said. “You cannot be as effective as you can be when you are spending energy hiding who you are. That’s a concern I have as more people pull back and have to hide a portion of who they are. We lose some of that cohesion within teams, because that energy that you have to spend on protecting yourself could be dedicated to building the cohesive relationships around you that foster teams that become incredibly successful. That’s one of the things where people being authentic serves the purposes of the military. It builds those strong bonds that allow teams to function effectively and accomplish their wartime mission.”

‘Any policy that excludes a class of individuals is inherently damaging to national security,’ said Col. BREE FRAM (Photo courtesy SPARTA)

Judge poised to strike down Trump’s anti-trans military ban

A federal judge appears poised to strike down a policy expected this week from the Trump administration’s Department of Defense that would bar transgender service members from the military.

Judge Ana Reyes of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia heard arguments on Tuesday challenging President Donald Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order that directed the Pentagon to update its policies “regarding trans-identifying medical standards for military service and to rescind guidance inconsistent with military readiness.”

While she held off on issuing an order pending the agency’s issuance of a final guidance in line with the EO, Reyes said the “greatest fighting force that world history has ever seen” would not be impacted “in any way by less than one percent of the soldiers using a different pronoun than others might want to call them.”

“Smarter people on the D.C. Circuit would have to tell me I’m wrong” about the effort to ban trans service members, she said, adding that the central premise supporting the ban, that only two genders exist, is not “biologically correct.”

“I could not be more honored to represent these extraordinarily accomplished and committed service members,” Jennifer Levi, senior director of transgender and queer rights for GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD Law), told the Washington Blade.

“I am hopeful about getting this degrading and demanding Order halted,” she said. “Today’s hearing showed how valuable transgender service members have been to the military.”

Levi added, “The government cannot justify discharging transgender troops who have honorably served our country for years.”

GLAD Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, together with Wardenski P.C., are representing the plaintiffs in their case, Talbott v. Trump. The two groups previously served as co-counsel in Equality California’s case challenging the first Trump administration’s 2017 anti-trans military ban, which was blocked from taking effect for nearly two years by multiple federal courts.

Reyes on Tuesday pressed Justice Department attorney Jason Lynch, who was defending the policy, on the transgender soldiers who filed the lawsuit, asking him “Are they honorable, truthful, and disciplined?”

“As far as I know, among them, they have over 60 years of military service,” she said. “And you would agree that together, the plaintiffs have made America safer?”

“I would agree, yes,” Lynch said.

“We are dealing with the president of the United States calling a group of people who have served their country, who, you have told me, have made America safer, calling them liars,” said Reyes, an appointee of former President Joe Biden.

“This is a policy of the president of the United States that is affecting thousands of people, carte blanche, without any support that has been given by anyone,” she added. “How is that anything other than showing animus?”

The hearing is expected to resume on Wednesday as Reyes considers whether to issue a preliminary injunction halting implementation of the order pending the outcome of the litigation. Another is scheduled for March 3, after the formal policy by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is due.

A second group of transgender service members represented by Lambda Legal and the Human Rights Campaign filed a separate challenge against Trump’s EO earlier this month in a federal court in Washington State.

CHRISTOPHER

KANE

Trump’s trans erasure arrives at Nat’l Park Service

President Trump’s efforts at erasing trans identity intensified last week as employees at the National Park Service were instructed to remove the “ T” and “Q” from “LGBTQ” from all internal and external communications.

The change was first noticed on the website of the Stonewall National Monument; trans people of color were integral to the events at Stonewall, which is widely viewed as the kickoff of the modern LGBTQ rights movement. The Stonewall National Monument is the

first U.S. national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history.

Reaction to that move was swift. New York City Council member Erik Bottcher wrote, “ The Trump administration has erased transgender people from the Stonewall National Monument website. We will not allow them to erase the very existence of our siblings. We are one community!!”

But what most didn’t realize is that the removal of the “ T” and “Q” (for transgender and queer) extends to all National Park Service and Interior Department communications, raising concerns that the move could jeopardize future LGBTQ monuments and project work.

The Blade reached out to the National Park Service for comment on the trans erasure and received a curt response that the agency is implementing Trump’s executive order “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” as well as agency directives to end all DEI initiatives.

The question being debated internally now, according to a knowledgable source, is what to do with a massive LGBTQ Theme Study, which as of Feb. 14 was still available on the NPS website. In 2014, the Gill Foundation recognized an omission of historic LGBTQ sites in the nation’s records, and the organization made a grant to the National Park Service to commission a first-ofits-kind LGBTQ Theme Study, which was published in 2016. It was a landmark project that represented major progress for the LGBTQ community in having our contributions included in the broader American story,

something that is becoming increasingly difficult given efforts like “Don’t Say Gay” laws that ban the teaching of LGBTQ topics in schools.

A source told the Blade that National Park Service communications staff suggested that removing chapters of the 2016 Theme Study that pertain to transgender people might placate anti-trans political appointees. But one employee pushed back on that, suggesting instead that the entire Theme Study be removed. Editing the document to remove one community’s contributions and perspective violates the academic intent of the project, according to the source. A final decision on how to proceed is expected soon. Meanwhile, a protest is planned for Friday, Feb. 14 at noon at Christopher Park in New York City (7th Ave. S. and Christopher Street). The protest is being planned by staff at the Stonewall Inn.

“ The Stonewall Inn and The Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative are outraged and appalled by the recent removal of the word ‘transgender ’ from the Stonewall National Monument page on the National Park Service website,” the groups said in a statement. “Let us be clear: Stonewall is transgender history. Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and countless other trans and gender-nonconforming individuals fought bravely, and often at great personal risk, to push back against oppressive systems. Their courage, sacrifice, and leadership were central to the resistance we now celebrate as the foundation of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement.”

FROM STAFF REPORTS

President DONALD TRUMP (Blade photo by Michael Key)

NYC Pride participants in front of the Stonewall Inn in 2019. (File photo by Andrew Nasonov)

Argentine president restricts trans minors’ access to surgeries

Argentine President Javier Milei earlier this month issued a decree that restricts minors’ access to gender-affirming surgeries and hormone treatments.

Human rights organizations and LGBTQ groups have condemned the edict that modifies Argentina’s landmark Gender Identity Law.

The International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association for Latin America and the Caribbean (ILGALAC) and ILGA World have condemned the decree, noting it “imposes severe restrictions on the right to gender identity of trans and non-binary people, particularly young people.” They further state the restriction “ignores scientific evidence and the recommendations of international bodies, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR).”

The Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (FALGBT), meanwhile, has announced it will go to court to

stop the modification of the Gender Identity Law and, if necessary, will turn to international organizations. Legal experts have argued the decree is illegal and unconstitutional, and Argentina’s Supreme Court should intervene.

FALGBT President María Rachid, told the Washington Blade that “from the Argentine LGBT Federation we are filing a declaration of unconstitutionality for this DNU (the Spanish acronym for Necessary and Urgent Decree), because we consider that the president is begging for legislative powers that do not correspond to him. That law was approved by a wide majority in both chambers, where specialists of medicine, of law went to expose concrete research on these issues.”

“On the other hand, we are also going to file injunctions, both collective and individual, to defend the rights of trans children and adolescents, mainly,” said Rachid. “It is not true what he (Milei) says to justify this absolute intrusion to legislative powers,

saying that 5-year-old children are mutilated. This is not true. Genital reassignment operations are performed after the age of 18, even by medical indication.”

This decree is in addition to other measures of Milei’s government that affect the LGBTQ community, such as the prohibition of gender-affirming treatments and surgeries for minors and limits on housing transgender women in female prisons.These actions have generated controversy and concern among human rights advocates and international organizations.

“President Javier Milei, since he took office, has been carrying out a series of measures that directly affect the vast majority of formal and informal workers in Argentina, and the LGBTIQNB population is no exception,” said Ornella Infante, a trans woman who is a national leader of the leftist Evita Movement. “In addition to the hate speeches that multiply violence; it is a class hatred to sectors with organizational and mobilization capacity such as women,

unions, social movements, and sexual diversity.”

“It is exposed with the dismissals of LGBT people from national agencies, the definition of gender policies, the closure of INADI, a state agency that worked to eradicate discrimination in the country,” added Infante. “All of this directly affects vulnerable populations and painfully shows that it is part of their government’s ideals to end human rights policies.”

ILGA World has urged the international community, human rights organizations and democratic institutions to speak out against these measures and to demand the repeal of the decree, calling it “an abuse of executive power and a blow to democratic institutionality.”

ESTEBAN RIOSECO

Indian state proposes sweeping LGBTQ policy

The government of Tamil Nadu in southern India has proposed a policy that is designed to improve the lives of LGBTQ and intersex people in the state.

The Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission introduced the “Draft Policy for the Welfare of LGBTQIA+ Persons” in July 2023. Key provisions include a 1 percent quota for transgender and intersex people in education and employment. Progress to implement the policy has been hindered because of the government’s fragmented approach of developing separate policies for different groups within the community.

The Madras High Court in January 2024 acknowledged Tamil Nadu’s proposed policy and commended the state’s efforts.

The court highlighted key recommendations, such as establishing a State Commission for Sexual and Gender Minorities and introducing quotas, while stressing the need to combat discrimination and violence. The court this month, however, raised concerns about the government’s separate policies for trans people and the broader LGBTQ community.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh stressed the need for a single, unified policy to effectively address the challenges the LGBTQ community faces. He directed the Social Welfare and Women Empowerment Department to submit a separate proposal for trans people and a consolidated LGBTQ one by Feb. 17 that would allow stakeholder input and improvements.

The Madras High Court has been actively guiding the Tamil Nadu government towards formulating a unified and comprehensive policy for the LGBTQ community, rather than separate policies for different groups within the community.

Tamil Nadu’s proposal offers several advantages aimed at promoting inclusivity and equality. It would provide healthcare inclusion, recommending the extension of

the Chief Minister’s Health Insurance Scheme to cover trans-specific medical procedures, such as gender-affirming surgeries, to ensure essential healthcare is accessible. The proposal calls for nondiscrimination policies in all government departments and public authorities that seek to protect LGBTQ people from bias and violence.

The proposal calls for educational institutions to adopt policies that raise awareness and address issues of violence, abuse, and discrimination against students with diverse gender identities and sexual orientations. It also suggests the creation of bodies like the Tamil Nadu Council for LGBTQ Persons and District Level LGBTQ Welfare and Justice Committees to coordinate efforts across government departments.

“Tamil Nadu is the first state in India to develop a unified policy covering sexual orientation, gender identity and sex characteristics, based on a recent Madras High Court directive,” said L. Ramakrishnan from SAATHII, an organization that works to create an inclusive healthcare system, and a member of the policy drafting committee. “This is important because critical sensitization interventions for inclusive education, healthcare and employment require understanding of sexual, sexuality, and gender diversity,”

“At the same time, recognizing the added vulnerabilities of trans and intersex individuals, provisions such as horizontal reservations and free land allocation are proposed only for transgender and intersex individuals,” added Ramakrishnan.

The proposal, among other things, calls for gender-neutral bathrooms and hostels. It also seeks to protect LGBTQ people from family violence and from corrective rape and so-called conversion therapy that medical providers and faith healers carry out.

The proposed policy would also acknowledge and support relationships outside the traditional marriage framework. It proposes a Deed of Familial Association that

would legally recognize queer relationships as the Madras High Court ruled in a case of a lesbian couple who sought protection from harassment. While the deed would offer protection from family and societal harassment, it would not extend legal status or rights associated with marriage or civil unions.

The Indian Supreme Court on Oct. 17, 2023, ruled against marriage rights for same-sex couples.

“We have long been working and sensitizing the government for a policy,” said Kalki Subramaniam, a trans activist and artist who founded the Sahodari Foundation, an organization that supports trans people in India. “It seems to be happening. We, the trans community, demand a separate policy for us because we are the most marginalized and poorest community in the entire LGBTQI spectrum.”

“I insist on two different policies: One for us, trans and intersex persons, and the other for the LGB community. Practically, it is very much possible,” added Subramaniam. “The state government, months ago, held public meetings with the trans community in all districts, and the community’s overall demand is a separate policy. I welcome the commission and insist it should have representatives from trans women, trans men, and intersex communities.”

She told the Washington Blade the proposed policy is something for which the community has been waiting for years, and is happy to see it on the table. Subramaniam noted the quota, in particular, will ensure equal opportunities in jobs and education.

“Tamil Nadu government’s laudable efforts in building equity for the LGBTQIA+ community stands as a magnificent beacon of hope,” said Harish Iyer, an Indian LGBTQ activist. “In times of absolute disregard across the world, this effort puts not just the queer community, but India in the forefront of humanitarian efforts.”

ANKUSH KUMAR

Argentine President JAVIER MILEI (Screen capture via YouTube)

ADELE P. KIMMEL

is director of the Students’ Civil Rights Project at Public Justice, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization. In November 2024, Public Justice filed a federal lawsuit challenging South Carolina’s anti-trans “bathroom law.”

Destroying Dept. of Education an attack on every family Federal

funds should not be held hostage from schools

Linda McMahon, a MAGA billionaire tapped by President Trump to lead the Department of Education, testified last week before the Senate and made her intentions crystal clear.

Trump and his unelected cronies have not been shy about their mission to destroy public education. Barely 24 hours before McMahon’s hearing, Trump said he wanted to close the Department of Education “immediately,” calling it “a big con job.”

that uphold equal opportunity will derail millions of lives.

We have seen this derailment up close representing transgender students targeted by bathroom bans in South Carolina. Children are spending their formative years being harassed by school administrators and lawmakers intent on legislating cruelty. They are getting physically ill because they can’t use the bathroom that aligns with who they are, and it is pushing them out of school and away from their friends.

teachers, and schools

He wants to rob us

We need to take him at his word. His vision for the department is a con job. McMahon’s nomination is a heist in action. Trump wants to con students out of their legal rights. He wants to steal federal funds from millions of children, teachers, and schools around the country. He wants to rob us all of a core mission of the Department of Education: upholding equal opportunity for every child.

has so bluntly stated.

Running the Department of Education should not be a “con job” as our president has so bluntly stated. But McMahon proved in her hearing today that she plans to execute that vision. When pressed, she would not commit to upholding the law should Trump compel her to break it. She also said teaching Black history could risk violating Trump’s dangerous “Ending Radical Indoctrination in K-12 Schooling” order. In short, McMahon proved she will be another spineless minion in Trump’s Cabinet of lackeys.

We know what this agenda will do to kids. Destroying the Department of Education — a critical civil rights agency — is an attack on every child, family, and person who believes in equal opportunity in this country. McMahon’s contempt for students, public schools, and the laws

rooms or ath-

Transgender students shouldn’t be barred from bathrooms or athletics. Being transgender isn’t an “ideology,” it’s reality. And teaching Black history is not “radical indoctrination.” Federal funds should not be held hostage from schools who dare to uphold students’ civil rights. And the Department of Education shouldn’t be weaponized to attack students whose rights it is supposed to protect.

And teachhostage from schools of onized to attack students whose rights

But from what we saw last week, McMahon would unleash this kind of discrimination in every school. This is why we do the work that we do at Public Justice: to fight this kind of hateful agenda.    McMahon might think she can buy her way into Trump’s Cabinet, but our children’s future is not for sale. We at Public Justice strongly oppose McMahon’s nomination as the secretary of the U.S. Department of Education because protecting our students is not a “con job,” it’s the key to all our futures.

ISAAC AMEND

is a writer based in the D.C. area. He is a transgender man and was featured in National Geographic’s “Gender Revolution” documentary. He serves on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Contact him at isaac.amend35@gmail. com or on Instagram at @literatipapi.

Let’s talk about

trans passing privilege

It

enables some to access better jobs while holding others back

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about Caitlyn Jenner. This friend works in a conservative office environment and she noted that some of her coworkers actually seemed to “welcome” Caitlyn as a trans person because Caitlyn passes relatively well as a woman and is a wealthy Republican.

A couple years earlier, as I was prepared to marry into a South Asian, Indian family with many conservative uncles, my other friend noted that I was very “digestible” to the family and had an easy time “fitting in” because I passed so well as a man.

It’s time that we talk about passing privilege and passing in the trans community in very honest and specific terms. I’ve found, over the years, that the way people perceive my body and how I present myself to the world matters substantially. When I was a cisgender woman who wore pearl earrings and ran cross country I was the object of desire to many men (and women). I had an easy time dating and finding romantic partners.

Suddenly, when I presented as nonbinary, people didn’t see me as a man but as someone who posed less of a threat to them. I was weak in the eyes of others: no longer a pretty girl, but still not a full grown man, some people made fun of me, and often got my pronouns wrong.

When I went on testosterone, though, and adopted a deep voice and muscular stature, and passed fully as a man, I was feared by other cis men who had seen me as nonbinary. In fact, I was feared by many. It’s sometimes scary to see a trans man pass so well. In the current day, when I sometimes tell some bar revelers that I am trans, they give me a look of disbelief, and are often stupefied in mild terror.

I will never forget one experience I had in the parking lot of my apartment building. At around midnight, I was walking to my car in the darkness and saw a woman in heels coming my way. She couldn’t see me, so I let out a cough to let her know that someone was nearby. It was the wrong move. My deep-voiced cough scared her and she winced. Looking back on it, there was no way to make her feel placated, which is what I wanted her to feel. Indeed, I wanted the woman to feel safe, because I had been a woman one time walking in such scenarios. In hindsight, though, there was nothing to do to make her feel safe. I would have startled her either way.

A few years later, when I married into an Indian family, I was “digestible” to some of the conservative uncles. As a man who had top surgery and looks fully like his presenting gender, I was accepted easily into the family, with a Yale degree to amp up my name. I wonder, though, if people in this Indian family would have accepted me if I didn’t pass so well.

Passing privilege allows trans people who pass well to access better jobs, socialize in more cisgender circles, and get accepted by a traditional South Asian family. But passing privilege isn’t fair. Not one bit of it is just or right. Unfortunately, it’s going to take years and even decades for society to accept nonbinary people and other trans people who don’t pass so well. And it’s going to take even more time in the wake of the Trump administration. All we can do, in the current moment, is to fight harder for our rights and attend protests in cities across the country.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

This is what Jews and gays faced in Nazi Germany in 1939

Trump’s attacks unsettling for everyone from farmers to federal workers

It is weird being basically retired, yet following the insanity foisted on our country by President Musk, his enabler President Felon, and their acolytes in Congress. So many of my young LGBTQ friends fear losing jobs, and my transgender friends are afraid for their lives. They have enjoyed, and are good at, their important work with the federal government. Many in the private sector also feel insecure. With threats of tariffs, cutting grants, and general instability, the non-profit sector is also reeling.

It is incredibly jarring to wake up every morning to some new outrage being foisted on the LGBTQ community in the United States, and in some cases, the world. Most frightening, in some ways, is the feeling that this is what Jews and homosexuals faced in Nazi Germany in 1939. This became more real when Trump approved Musk rehiring a young man who supports eugenics and racism, who said he would be happy with the destruction of both Gaza and Israel. If we don’t speak out collectively, and act collectively, we will all suffer.

We see the Senate, with its Republican majority, advance Cabinet nominations of wholly unqualified and dangerous, people. A woman who supports a traitor who gave away United States secrets to our enemies — who supported Assad and Putin — has now been confirmed as the next Director of National Intelligence. A man confirmed for Secretary of HHS who was a drug pusher causing the addiction of many, including those in his own family. Who caused the deaths of children around the world with his anti-vaccination positions. All this because of a real fuck-you attitude toward the American people, and allegiance to President Felon, and fear of the Nazi sympathizer, Elon Musk, he is allowed to run amok through the government. Trump’s lack of intelligence, and need for vengeance, and those who whisper in his ear in the current White House, and their Republican acolytes in Congress, are destroying our country, and creating havoc in the world.

A man born in South Africa, who came here on a student visa, now the richest man in the world, is given the key to the federal treasury by the felon the people elected. He, and his young crew of non-government followers, are going agency to agency firing people at will, with no knowledge of what those people do, or how their work impacts people here, and around the world. Haphazardly destroying American farmers in the process, and causing the deaths of people starving, and those suffering from AIDS, around the world. They are offering federal workers un-funded buyouts, trying to close USAID and the Department of Education, both agencies only Congress can constitutionally close. But the silence from the Republican Congress is deafening. Some judges are standing up for the Constitution, but even if eventually the courts say what Musk/Trump are doing is unconstitutional, people’s lives will have been ruined, people will die while the lawsuits are being fought out.

As a member of the LGBTQ community, I will always fight for the rights of my community, and speak out and fight for others, whenever, and wherever, I can. But today we are seeing what happens when other communities didn’t understand what they were getting with Trump and his acolytes. The Muslim and Palestinian community now see Trump wanting to remove Palestinians from, and claim ownership of, Gaza. The African-American community members who either stayed home or voted for Trump, seeing all the civil rights cases in the Justice Department ended, and the civil rights section of the Department of Education, possibly closing. Latino communities that voted for him finding out what he really thinks of them. By ending all Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs, we can add women, and the disability community, to those who are getting screwed by Trump and his minions. The only people who aren’t, at the moment, but that could easily change, are rich, white, straight, male, Christians.

So, what do we do? We must demand every elected official we can reach, speak out, and do everything they can in Congress, and state government, to slow down the destruction of our country. We should demonstrate, go to court, and speak out, every day. But most importantly, we must organize and VOTE! We must do that before President Musk, enabled by President Felon, tries to end voting as we know it. This will be a state-by-state, district-bydistrict, fight. Each Democratic candidate must run on the issues their constituents care about. The issues that will get them elected. We must accept those could be different in each race.

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Couple leaves D.C. to run 200-year-old B&B in Sperryville,

Va.

Basement brewery adds to appeal of landmark, historic inn

By EVAN CAPLAN

An offhand comment in a family text conversation transformed into an extraordinary turn of events for Olivia Noble and Katie Lancos, a queer couple that came into a Shenandoah bed & breakfast via the group chat.

In November, Noble and Lancos purchased Hopkins Ordinary, a 200-year-old inn in Sperryville, Va., after a family member dropped the property’s Zillow link to the group. After spending most of their adult lives in Washington, D.C., and many weekends in the Shenandoah area, the curious couple saw the sale listing and jumped at the opportunity.

Originally constructed around 1820, Hopkins Ordinary (appearing on the National Register of Historic Places) was opened as a simple waystation for weary travelers, with the added bonus of a lively basement tavern. Expanded and electrified in the next century, it became popular with travelers heading over the nearby mountains. The property was briefly turned into a set of apartments before the most recent owners returned the building to its roots as an inn and introduced brewmaking in the basement – turning the business into a bed & breakfast & brewery.

Noble and Lancos have embraced with relish the opportunity to run this visible landmark, as it stands in the very center of Sperryville’s tidy – and tiny – main street. Marrying history and heritage with a more modern sensibility, they say, is their unique value add. “We love the idea of bringing a young approach to the B&B and the brewery. People our age are frustrated with the Airbnb model and want to stay somewhere that has real charm to it. How fun is it to stay somewhere with a brewery in the basement?”

They describe Hopkins Ordinary as “a classic B&B – a little bit of a Victorian style decoration with cozy rooms, comfortable common areas, wrap-around porches, and working wood-burning fireplaces in almost every room.”

The subterranean brewery and taproom in the cellar is open to the public, featuring nine beers, all brewed onsite (they retained the expert brewmaster to oversee the beer operation). The property has an extensive biergarten out back, as well as a cottage with additional rooms.

The two admit to harboring some hesitation as D.C. residents coming to a small Virginia town with their urban lifestyle and owning such an important piece of Sperryville heritage. Yet, they note, overall, “the town could not have been more welcoming. Local business owners and neighbors have all stopped by to give us welcome gifts, offer us genuine support, and invite us out. The community is very active and has been proactive about including us.”

They had known that “Sperryville (and Rappahannock County in general) is a progressive town for rural Virginia. There are a lot of D.C. transplants, including a notable LGBTQ population, many of which are also active in the social and hospitality scene,” so being LGBTQ themselves was not seen as a concern.

They never felt a need to hide their identity, but rather, have been able to celebrate it more than they had imagined.

“As members of the queer community, we are putting a huge emphasis on inclusion when it comes to running our business. We are spending time re-evaluating the existing policies and processes to make sure that all our guests feel genuinely welcomed and included, both in the inn and the brewery. This includes the LGBTQ+ community, as well as families.”

The two are imbuing the inn with their own touches. “We want to make this space feel really special and personal. It’s not just a hotel for people to stay at – it’s also our house. We greet guests when they check in, give them recommendations in the area, serve them beer in the brewery.” They have developed a two-course breakfast served to guests, relying on family recipes and local produce, plus the guest-favorite oat and coconut milk chia seed pudding. The basement brewery boasts 25 beer recipes, as well as wine and non-alcoholic drinks; a liquor license is in the works.

A mere two months in, the move from Northwest D.C. to a big role in a small Shenandoah town has them relishing their decision. The couple expresses pride in an ability to both put down roots in Sperryville and maintain an icon of a building, creating a deep connection with the community.

“We’re distinctly aware of what an important cultural cornerstone this building is for many people and we’re honored to bring our own contributions to that legacy.”

Hopkins Ordinary is a 200-year-old inn in Sperryville, Va. (Photos courtesy Olivia Noble and Katie Lancos)

CALENDAR |

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, February 21

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

Trans and Genderqueer Game Night will be at 6 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This will be a relaxing, laid-back evening of games and fun. All are welcome. Feel free to bring your own games to share. For more details, email info@thedccenter.org.

GoGayDC will host “First Friday LGBTQ+ Community Social in the City” at 7 p.m. at Hotel Zena. 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, February 22

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.

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

Sunday, February 23

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Coffee and Conversation” at 12 p.m. at As You Are. This event is ideal for making meaningful new connections and informal community building. Or just to unwind and enjoy the group happy hour. Fabulous people from all over the world are expected. Name tags will be provided. This event is free to attend and more details are available on Eventbrite.

“Out + Proud Around the World and Through the Centuries” will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom.This event is an opportunity to meet LGBTQ people who have stood up and stood out proudly throughout history. There will be discussion about the lives and achievements of pioneers who defied social conventions and expressed their own sexualities and/or genders, often at great personal cost. For more details, visit Eventbrite.

Monday, February 24

“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 choice. For more details, email adam@thedccenter.org.

Queer Book Club will be at 6:30 p.m. on Zoom. This month’s read is “The Henna Wars” by Adiba Jaigirdar. The book is available at online retailers, as well as via the DC Public Library. For more details, email supportdesk@ thedccenter.org.

Tuesday, February 25

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.

Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This group is a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so. By sharing struggles and victories the group allows those newly coming out and who have been out for a while to learn from others. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Wednesday, February 26

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.

Asexual and Aromantic Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom and in person at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This is a space where people who are questioning this aspect of their identity or those who identify as asexual and/or aromantic can come together, share stories and experiences, and discuss various topics. For more details, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Thursday, February 27

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 5:00 pm if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.

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

OUT & ABOUT

Queer Table explores South Indian cuisine

“Queer Table:

An Intimate South Indian Culinary Journey” will be on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Spicez.

This will be an evening of flavor, connection, and celebration at Queer Table, a unique culinary experience crafted for the queer community. This intimate gathering of just eight participants is all about discovering the magic of South Indian cuisine while creating meaningful connections.

Attendees will cook, laugh, and share stories, blending the rich traditions of South Indian cooking with the warmth of community. From mastering the art of rotis to indulging in a decadent dessert, this event promises a feast for both your taste buds and your soul.

Tickets are $65 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

DC Center wraps up Black History Month

The DC Center for the LGBT Community will host “Black, Bold & Brilliant” on Saturday, Feb. 22 at 12 p.m. on its premises.

This will be an afternoon that radiates the richness, resilience, and brilliance of Blackness in all of its shades. The event will honor the indisputable beauty, unwavering power, and boundless creativity of the Black queer community across the African diaspora.

Guests can immerse themselves in a curated panel discussion featuring visionaries, professionals, change makers, creatives, and mental health advocates who are unapologetically redefining excellence and rewriting narratives. And within the rhythms of timeless global Black classics spanning generations, timeless anthems that have woven together an embracing drapery of heritage, pride, and valor that has been adorned by our essence for centuries.

There will be light refreshments, an opportunity to connect with kindred spirits, and engage in meaningful conversations in a cultivated space for protection and celebration.

Attendance is free. RSVP on the DC Center’s website.

‘Queer Table: An Intimate South Indian Culinary Journey’ will be on Sunday, Feb. 23 at 5:30 p.m. at Spicez.

‘Figs’

reminds us that we are imaginative beings — and stories have purpose

Doug Robinson’s immersive production at Rorschach through March 16

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

“Sometimes playwrights can get a bad rap for being difficult,” says out dramatist Doug Robinson. “In truth, all we’re saying is that we wrote something with intention, please hold space for that intention.”

The local playwright continues, “I’ve been really fortunate in finding some amazing directors who want to work in concert with me. And now I’m lucky again.”

Robinson’s latest work “The Figs” directed by Randy Baker, is playing at Rorschach Theatre in downtown D.C. The story surrounds “a fig-obsessed king’s bizarre contest sets off a whirlwind adventure featuring quirky farmers, a lovesick innkeeper, and a chaotic storyteller.”

Robinson, 32, who earned his MFA in playwriting from the Yale School of Drama, was introduced to theater at River Bend Elementary in Virginia as a member of the “Hello, Dolly!” ensemble. Instantly smitten, he has been acting, directing, and writing ever since.

An immersive experience, Rorschach’s production of “The Figs” is performed in what used to be a big and tall store and is now a big and tall performance space. “I’m confident that it’s a good play that can sustain some experimentation,” he says.

WASHINGTON BLADE: I’ve read your play “deconstructs traditional storytelling with self-aware humor, queer characters, and unexpected twists.” How would you describe it?

ROBINSON: I’d call it a folktale comedy. The big inspiration is that I love the fairytale adventure film “The Princess Bride” and TV’s animated show “Over the Garden Wall.” I like things kind of weird and lovely. As if the Brothers Grimm were told as they’re supposed to be, but with a hopeful finish.

A friend describes my plays as “bloody whimsy” There are real stakes in what’s going on; nothing I write will shy away from what is hard, but it also will explore what is lovely and earnest in the most difficult situations.

BLADE: Beyond entertainment is there an aim?

ROBINSON: For me, “The Fig” has two purposes: to remind audiences that they are imaginative beings and stories have purpose; and secondly, while I love “The Princess Bride,” there are no POC in the

film, so there’s that.

This is definitely a play that’s representative. For the D.C. regional premiere there’s a Black woman playing Princess. The previous Florida production featured an Asian woman in that role.

BLADE: Are you involved in casting?

ROBINSON: I don’t get too specific about who plays what part, but I want to ensure that when a company is doing this play, they’re asking themselves “How do we fill out this world? How is that world representative of the world we currently live in?”

BLADE: As a playwright can you ensure that?

ROBINSON: Yes, it’s about trust and also about contract. As a playwright I will always have some level of access to whatever production is happening based on my choice. I can choose not to be too involved or I can choose to be very involved in things and that might include casting.

Not to say that I’ll dictate, but I might ask to see the headshots of actors they’re considering. I might say that it doesn’t feel like a diverse group and I need them to honor what the play is and if they can’t do that, they’re in breach of contract.

BLADE: Would you say you’ve built a queer play?

ROBINSON: Princess Sadie is in love with another woman, a bartender named Lorna. I grew up in an openly queer space. To me a lesbian romance isn’t unique; after all, that wasn’t unusual in high school, it was everywhere. For me, these are simply queer women in a play. It’s just like how they exist in life. And of course, I’m going to uplift the people and community I love.

BLADE: What was your way into theater?

ROBINSON: Here’s how I tell it: I’m five years old and I’m watching “Power Rangers.” I want to be a Power Ranger. And my mother tells me Power Rangers aren’t real. What are they? Actors. OK, I want to be an actor.

BLADE: What’s something you like and something you want in theater?

ROBINSON: I believe in ensemble and I believe in actors doubling and tripling roles. In “The Figs,” there’s upwards of 20

roles played by eight actors. It demands a nimbleness in the performers and it’s a skill I want to see more of in theater. I love theater that doesn’t pretend not to theater. We need to be as theatrical as possible in what we’re doing. I want it loudly imaginative and physically exhausting for the actors involved. I want that.

‘The Figs’ Through March 16 Rorschach Theatre 1020 Connecticut Ave., N.W. $20-$50 | rorschachtheatre.com

Playwright DOUG ROBINSON (Photo by T Charles Erickson Photography)

Immigrant skirts shady side of American dream in ‘Stockade’

An intriguing and occasionally thrilling film experience

By JOHN PAUL KING

At a time when being an immigrant in America –whether documented or not – has become even more precarious than usual, telling immigrant stories is essential.

Hollywood, of course, has loved stories about immigrants for decades, though it has a history of perpetuating tropes and stereotypes even when portraying non-American characters in a positive light. More recently, the involvement of creatives who are actually from the cultures behind those stories (and a more critical awareness of America’s troubled relationship with its own history) has improved that, somewhat, but given current cultural sentiments have made the subject a sore point with a wide swath of audiences, it seems likely that the progress will be stalled for a while.

Fortunately, there are movies made in other places, too, and independent filmmakers willing to make them; we just might have to look a little harder to find them.

Such a film is “Stockade,” which premieres for a theatrical run in Los Angeles this weekend before rolling out for a VOD/DVD release on Feb. 5. Written and directed by Eric McGinty, it avoids politically charged controversy – there are no ICE agents here, and nobody is a terrorist – and aims instead for a self-described “Immigrant Noir” with all the murky morality and shifting alliances one might expect from a movie with that designation.

The plot is centered on Ahlam (Sarah Bitar), a young Lebanese painter struggling to gain a foothold in New York City on an artist visa that is about to expire. Her work is starting to get noticed, but an extension on her immigrant status is expensive, and her finances are in dire straits. Desperate for money, she jumps at the opportunity for a windfall when she is offered a hefty sum by an acquaintance – Paul (Guy de Lancey, who doubles as the film’s cinematographer), an older South African expat –to deliver a package to a small town in upstate New York. The catch: after dropping it off, she must stay overnight and pick it up before bringing it back to him, with no questions asked.

Shady as it seems, the assignment goes well enough, at first; there’s even the unexpected bonus of running into an Iranian friend from art school, Zora (Bahar Beihaghi), with whom she experiences a definite spark and who makes her overnight stay a much more enjoyable experience than expected. The next day, however, things go awry when her contact fails to return with the package, and she suddenly finds herself tangled in an ominous web of suspicion, intrigue, and danger, as mysterious strangers converge around her to demand answers she doesn’t have. Fearing for her own safety and

still without the money she needs, she is forced to seek out answers for herself – before she is forced to return to Lebanon and give up the opportunities that have just begun to blossom for her in America.

On the face of it, McGinty’s film seems disconnected from the issues arising from the new government’s draconian deportation policies today. Ahlam’s status is legal, and she is working within the system – or trying, at any rate – to keep it that way. Nevertheless, much like the inner workings of its plot, much of what is being conveyed can only be read “between the lines”; as our picture slowly forms of the hidden underworld into which Ahlam has stumbled, it’s possible to see the hardships and disadvantages of being an immigrant as the driving force behind everything that happens to her – not just in her own predicament, or the game into which she’s been trapped, but in the motivations behind many, maybe even most, of the other players.

Of course, that’s true only if you are able to discern them, and McGinty doesn’t make that entirely easy. “Stockade” – which takes its name from the deceptively quiet neighborhood which seems to be the nexus of its mysteries – sets up a lot of questions as it goes, and spends a lot of time and energy pursuing some of them, but many of them are left – verbally, at least – unanswered. In the end, we are given a kind of closure, a revelation that brings connecting sense to the whole thing, though we don’t quite know the details; but we are left to our own surmises to piece together all the connections and explanations, the relationships and the alliances, even the fate of the package – almost as prime an example of Hitchcock’s “MacGuffin” concept as the briefcase in “Pulp Fiction” – around which almost all of the action has revolved.

Even if you’re not up to the effort of mining the characters’ dialogue for hints and clues – they’re there, we promise you, though some of them might be unspoken. Well – there’s still plenty of food for thought; perhaps most glaringly, the focus on illegal trafficking of antiquities (which [spoiler alert] is an integral part of the story) conjures ethical questions around colonialist appropriation and the trap of jockeying for power in a system that exploits you into a betrayal of your own loyalties.

More subtly, perhaps, its implied connection between the wealthy world of art (or, perhaps more accurately, the commerce of art) and the black market amorality required to possess someone else’s stolen birthright sends the timely shivers up our spines that its less-visceral urgency around the plight of immigrants never quite manages to achieve.

Perhaps the most telling quality that “Stockade” delivers, however, comes from its subtle-yet-unmissable exploration of mistrust and suspicion of strangers, of outsiders who come into a community – particularly one that’s bound together by a connection which gives them reason to fear outsiders – and pose a perceived threat to one’s own “entitled” place in the hierarchy. In a town – or a country – where everyone is looking out only for themselves because they have to assume everyone else is doing the same thing, prosperity becomes a fickle illusion and survival depends on asserting whatever power one can manage to accumulate for themselves.

Well acted (Bitar is a revelation) and artfully shot with observational aestheticism by de Lancey, “Stockade” makes for an engrossing hour-and-a-half, even when its lack of definitive clarity becomes particularly challenging. After all, motives are not so readily conveyed in real life, and in many ways it’s refreshing to see a movie that embraces the fact that life often consists of the “unknowable”.

Still, viewers might be better prepared armed with the knowledge – contained in the movie’s press materials –that the work of late, great surrealist film genius David Lynch was an inspiration for McGinty’s effort. While the movie never veers into the dreamlike, transcendental territory in which Lynch was most at home, the unorthodox and sometimes strange directions toward which it frequently veers still evokes memories of films like “Blue Velvet” and “Wild at Heart,” and the strange divide they illuminate between what is visible and what remains hidden in the shadows.

In truth, “Stockade” might have been a more satisfying movie had it not played itself so closely to the chest. Nevertheless, it’s an intriguing and occasionally thrilling film experience, and one which will, most likely, become more so with repeated viewings.

BAHAR BEIHAGHI and SARAH BITAR in ‘Stockade.’ (Image courtesy of Veronique Films)

‘Cleavage’ explores late-in-life transition

An enjoyable collection of work from a born storyteller

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

When it came to friends and family, your cup used to runneth over.

You had plenty of both and then, well, life and politics wedged an ocean-sized chasm between you and it makes you sad. And yet – are you really all that far apart? As in the new memoir, “Cleavage” by Jennifer Finney Boylan, maybe you’re still two peas in a pod.

Once upon a time not so long ago, Jennifer Finney Boylan was one of “a group of twelve-year-old Visigoths” intent on mischief. They hung around, did normal boy stuff, setting off rockets, roughhousing, roaming, rambling, and bike-riding. The difference between Boylan and the other boys in her group was that Jim Boylan knew she was really a girl.

Then, she vowed that it was a “secret no soul would ever know,” and James went to college, enjoyed a higher metabolism, dated, fell in love too easily, then married a woman and fathered two boys but there was still that tug. Boylan carried the child she once was in her heart – “How I loved the boy I’d been!” – but she was a woman “on the inside” and saying it aloud eventually became critical.

Boylan had a hard talk with her wife, Deedie, knowing that it could be the end of their marriage. She’s eternally grateful now that it wasn’t.

She’s also grateful that she became a woman when she did, when politics had little to do with that personal decision. She worries about her children, one who is trans, both of whom are good, successful people who make Boylan proud. She tries to help other trans women. And she thinks about the words her mother often said: “Love will prevail.”

“Our lives are not a thing to be ashamed of,” Boylan says, “or apologized for, or explained. Our lives are a thing of wildness, and tenderness, and joy.”

Judge “Cleavage” by its cover, and you might think you’ll get a primer on anatomy. Nope, author Jennifer Finney Boylan only has one chapter on the subject, among many. Instead, she leans heavily on her childhood and her transition rather late in life, her family, and her friends to continue where her other books left off, to update, correct, and to share her thoughts on that invisible division. In sum, she guesses that “a huge chunk of the population… still doesn’t understand this trans business at all.”

Let that gentle playfulness be a harbinger of what you’ll read: some humor about her journey, and many things that might make your heart hurt; self-inspection that seems confidential and a few oh-so-deliciously wellplaced snarks; and memories that, well told and satisfying, are both nostalgic and personal from “both the Before and the After.”

This book has the feel of having a cold one with a friend and Boylan fans will devour it. It’s also great for anyone who is trans-curious or just wants to read an enjoyable collection of work from a born storyteller. No matter what you want from it, what you’ll find in “Cleavage” is a treasure chest.

‘Cleavage: Men, Women, and the Space Between Us’

By Jennifer Finney Boyle c.2025,

Celadon Books | $29 | 256 pages

Mad about Mercedes — and a Mini Countryman, too

These three spiffy SUVs not too basic, not too complicated

By JOE PHILLIPS

Not too basic, not too complicated. That’s what I enjoyed most about three spiffy SUVs recently. Call it the Goldilocks effect, but each ride—two Mercedes and a Mini Countryman—seemed just right. That’s a big plus in today’s world of extremes.

MERCEDES AMG GLA 35

$59,000

MPG: 22 city/28 highway

0 to 60 mph: 4.7 seconds

Cargo space: 15.4 cu. ft.

PROS: Affordable luxury, smooth suspension, zippy.

CONS: Bit noisy inside, so-so storage, costly options.

IN A NUTSHELL: The subcompact GLA—the most affordable Mercedes sold in the U.S.—comes in two trim levels. With the average price of a vehicle topping $48,000, the base-model GLA 250 is a bargain at $43,000. On paper, the stats for acceleration, handling and braking look spot on. Ditto the fine amenities, including faux-leather seats, ambient lighting, wireless charging pad and power liftgate. Toss in numerous safety features—including forward-collision warning, blind-spot alert, an automated parking system—and what could be better? The answer is the sport-tuned AMG GLA 35, which is the vehicle I tested. Zippier, grippier and ritzier than its entry-level sibling, this saucy SUV is also pricier. And beware: The long list of options—such as head-up display, surround-view camera, illuminated door sills— can add up quickly. But oh, what a thrill. Stomp on the accelerator, and the GLA 35 scoots from 0 to 60 mph in just 4.7 seconds—a full two seconds quicker than the GLA 250. Along with a more powerful engine and all-wheel drive, there’s now a 48volt hybrid-assist system. The GLC 35 also flaunts aggressive styling, including a sexy rear spoiler, large dual exhaust tips and bigger wheels. Fave feature: the flat-bottom, performance-oriented steering wheel with spiffy paddle shifters and a panoply of user-friendly buttons and dials.

MERCEDES AMG GLC 43 COUPE

$70,000

MPG: 18 city/24 highway

0 to 60 mph: 4.7 seconds

Cargo space: 19.2 cu. ft.

PROS: Posh styling, potent power, quiet cabin.

CONS: Pricey, limited rear visibility, reduced cargo room.

IN A NUTSHELL: Stepping up from

the baby Mercedes GLA, the larger GLC— though technically a compact—is 12 inches longer. What’s more, this hauler comes with choice of five trim levels. And you can choose from either a traditional squareback design or sloped coupe-like styling. Confused? Don’t be. Just trust that the AMG GLC 43 Coupe, which is really an SUV, checks all the boxes. There’s plenty of drama here, with a bulging snout and sinuous shape that any diva would love. There’s also plenty of power, with a gritty turbo that allows the GLC to accelerate just as fast as the much lighter GLA. And the interior is stunning: NASCAR-like bucket seats, gigantic infotainment touchscreen and reinforced window glass to better insulate the cabin. A clever nav system can project traffic and other info onto the head-up display on the windshield, and rear automatic braking helps anticipate and prevent a back-end collision. Sure, the low-slung roofline cuts into rear-seat headroom and cargo space. But for me, the sacrifice was worth it. After all, it’s hard to imagine any other glam-but-gutsy ride equally at home on a fashion runway or at the racetrack.

MINI COUNTRYMAN ALL4

$40,000

MPG: 24 city/32 highway 0 to 60 mph: 5.9 seconds Cargo space: 24.9 cu. ft.

PROS: Bigger, faster, better.

CONS: Almost too big, bit less playful, higher MSRP.

IN A NUTSHELL: Fully redesigned for 2025, the Mini Countryman enjoys a slew of up-market changes but retains some of its retro quirks. Larger than before, this latest model—with so much extra room for passengers and cargo—feels comfy and spacious. Almost too much so. At first blush, I was reminded of a Subaru Forester or Outback. Both fine vehicles, but without that familiar Mini vibe. Luckily, the steering wheel, head-up display and large Frisbee-shaped infotainment display all channel the previous Countryman. Ditto the overall exterior, which now boasts a redesigned grille, sleeker headlights and refined rear treatment. Yet I missed seeing all the toggle switches and some other playful touches. In their place, though, is a groovy dashboard with nifty LED lighting that changes colors based on the driving mode. While some digital readouts initially seemed too techy, they ended up being very user friendly. And there are two standout features: a huge panoramic moonroof and the use of sustainable materials for the carpeting, seats and such.

MERCEDES AMG GLA 35

MERCEDES AMG GLC 43 COUPE

MINI COUNTRYMAN ALL4

PID’S UNDIER

Freezing rain doesn’t stop scantily-clad participants

Cupid’s Undie Run, an annual fundraiser for neurofibromatosis (NF) research, was held at Union Stage and at The Wharf DC on Saturday, Feb. 15.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

The digital-first revolution in home buying

How technology is transforming real estate

By JEFF HAMMERBERG

The real estate industry is undergoing a seismic shift, mirroring the rapid digitization happening across all sectors. From shopping to banking to healthcare, consumers now expect seamless online experiences - and home buying is no exception.

Today’s buyers demand instant access, immersive digital experiences, and data-driven insights before ever setting foot inside a property.

Rise of the Digital-First Home Buyer

Gone are the days when buyers had to physically visit dozens of homes to narrow down their options. Thanks to cutting-edge technology, prospective homeowners can now tour properties from anywhere in the world, analyze market data in real time, and make more informed decisions - all with just a few clicks. Key innovations fueling the digital home-buying experience include:

• 3D Virtual Tours – High-resolution, interactive walkthroughs allow buyers to experience a property as if they were there in person.

• Drone Videos – Aerial footage provides a comprehensive view of a home’s location, neighborhood, and surrounding environment.

• Virtual Staging – AI-powered tools showcase how a vacant space could look with furniture, helping buyers visualize its potential.

• AI-Powered Market Insights – Smart analytics help buyers compare property values, neighborhood trends, and future appreciation potential.

An example of real estate’s digital transformation is GayRealEstate.com, a platform dedicated to connecting LGBTQ+ buyers and sellers with trusted, equality-focused real estate professionals. Recognizing the demand for more inclusive, data-driven, and digital-first real estate solutions, the platform has introduced a groundbreaking tool:

Destination Comparison Tool at GayRelocation.com

For LGBTQ+ buyers, relocating isn’t just about affordability - it’s about finding a safe, welcoming community with the right balance of quality of life, job opportunities, and LGBTQ+ resources. That’s why GayRealEstate.com developed GayRelocation.com, an innovative tool that allows users to compare multiple cities based on:

• Affordability – Housing costs, rent, and cost of living comparisons.

• LGBTQ+ Resources – LGBTQ+ community centers, pride events, & inclusivity scores.

• Job Market – Employment opportunities and industry growth trends.

• Quality of Life – Healthcare access, schools, crime rates, and entertainment options. This tool removes uncertainty and streamlines the relocation process, ensuring buyers can find a city where they’ll thrive before they even begin their home search.

Future of Digital-First Home Buying

As technology continues to evolve, expect even more innovations in real estate, such as AI-driven property recommendations, blockchain-powered transactions, and even virtual reality (VR) home tours that replicate a real-world experience.

Just as color TVs became a household staple in the 1960s, personal robots will soon be as common as a refrigerator or a smartphone. These AI-driven assistants will manage everything from security and home automation to grocery shopping and even providing companionship.

Imagine touring a home and asking the built-in AI assistant about energy efficiency, property history, or neighborhood details - all in real time. As smart home technology advances, homebuyers will prioritize properties that seamlessly integrate AI, automation, and digital-first conveniences, making the home-buying process more intuitive than ever. The future isn’t just about finding a home - it’s about finding a smarter way to live.

The trend is clear: home buying is becoming faster, more accessible, and more informed than ever before. For buyers, this means greater convenience, less guesswork, and smarter decisions. For real estate professionals, embracing digital-first solutions isn’t optional—it’s the future of the industry.

Are you ready to find your dream home the digital way? Explore GayRealEstate.com and use the Destination Comparison tool at GayRelocation.com to make your next move with confidence.

JEFF HAMMERBERG is founding CEO of Hammerberg & Associates, Inc. Reach him at 303-378-5526 or jeffhammerberg@gmail.com.

Technology has transformed the home buying process.

BETSY TWIGG

Associate Broker | Licensed in Virginia 703.967.4391 (CELL ) betsy.twigg@corcoranmce.com

Corcoran McEnearney. REALTORS 3135 Langston Blvd, Arlington, VA 22201 betsytwigg.com Equal Housing Opportunity

MASSAGE

MASSAGE FOR MEN

Private studio near Rosslyn/ Courthouse, weekends (Fri-Mon), 12-9. Text Gary @ 301-704-1158 or visit www.mymassagebygary.com

CLEANING

FERNANDO’S CLEANING

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

COUNSELING COUNSELING FOR LGBTQ

People. Individual/Couples counseling with a volunteer peer counselor. GMCC, serving our community since 1973. 202-580-8661 gaymenscounseling.org  No fees. Donation requested.

HANDYMAN

BRITISH REMODELING

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

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

Catelyn@ModernFamily Formation.com

LIMOUSINES

KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE

Since 1987. Gay & Veteran Owner/Operator. Lincoln Nautilus!

Proper DC License & Livery Insured. www.KasperLivery.com 202-554-2471

MEN FOR MEN

TALL, DECENT LOOKING, White male ISO all-American looking white male, well-built & hung, ready to be a total slave for Daddy. You must behave, obey, and follow Daddy’s orders, or you will be punished. Interested? Call or text Daddy, 24 hours a day. Sincere replies only. 240-457-1292

BODYWORK

Massage or Deep Tissue. Appts. Low Rates, 24/7, In-Calls.

& foreign estates. Ask the court to publish yours in the Blade. The courts will take care of the set-up process. Another way you can support your LGBTQ+ newspaper

Harry C. Carter aka Harry Carter Kelly, Name of Decedent

Miroslav Nikolov, 7100 Columbia Gateway Drive, Ste. 190, Columbia, MD 21046 Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs

Bernice G. Kelly , whose address is 4225 Colorado Ave NW, Washington, D.C. 20011 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Harry C. Kelly aka Harry Carter Kelly who died on January 31, 2024 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., Building A, 515 5th Street, N.W., 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before 8/14/2025. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or filed with the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before 8/14/2025 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 first publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship. Date of first publication: February 14, 2025 /s/Bernice G. Kelly, Personal Representative, 202-291-5888 A True Test Copy /s/Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills.