Local
End of an era, as Lambda Rising to close
Lambda Rising will close in January after a 35-year run. (DC Agenda photo by Aram Vartian)
Lambda Rising, a bookstore serving the LGBT community in the nation’s capital for 35 years, is closing its D.C. store in Dupont Circle and its remaining out-of-town store in Rehoboth Beach, Del., in January.
The closings, announced last week, become another in a series of gay bookstores that have shut down in recent years in other cities, including New York and Baltimore.
Deacon Maccubbin, 66, the store’s founder and co-owner, told D.C. Agenda in an exclusive interview that he plans to retire soon and that he and co-owner Jim Bennett, his domestic partner of 32 years, decided they would rather close the stores than sell them to a new owner who might change their focus and mission.
“The phrase ‘mission accomplished’ has gotten a bad rap in recent years but in this case, it certainly applies,” Maccubbin said.
“When we set out to establish Lambda Rising in 1974, it was intended as a demonstration of the demand for gay and lesbian literature,” he said, noting that few if any mainstream bookstores and newsstands carried gay-related books and periodicals at the time.
“Today, 35 years later, nearly every general bookstore carries GLBT books, often featuring them in special sections,” he said.
Maccubbin said the Internet also enables people today to access LGBT-related information from almost any location in the country, accomplishing yet another part of Lambda Rising’s mission: to provide up-to-date information to a community that could not obtain it elsewhere.
He said he first opened the store in June 1974 in a converted townhouse on 20th Street, N.W., near Dupont Circle, with an initial investment of $3,000 and an additional $1,000 borrowed from a local gay activist. The shop consisted of 300 square feet of space and just 250 gay and lesbian book titles.
“That’s all there were at the time,” Maccubbin said.
The store, along with the LGBT community and gay civil rights movement, grew dramatically over the next three decades, moving in 1977 to a larger storefront space on S Street, N.W., a few blocks away. In 1984, the store moved to its current location at 1625 Connecticut Ave., N.W., in a storefront building that Maccubbin and Bennett own.
Lambda Rising, which opened in 1974, will close in January as its owners prepare to retire. (DC Agenda photo by Aram Vartian)
In the intervening years, the two opened branches of the store in Baltimore, Norfolk, Va., and Rehoboth Beach. In 2003, Lambda Rising bought the Oscar Wilde Bookshop in New York’s Greenwich Village, recognized as the nation’s first gay bookstore, having opened in 1967. Maccubbin said Lambda Rising bought that store to save it from closing.
After more than three years of helping rebuild the Oscar Wilde store, Lambda Rising sold it to its manager, to return it to its status as a locally owned business. But earlier this year, due to the national economic downturn, the New York owner said he was forced to close the store.
In its three decades of operation, Lambda Rising became one of the nation’s first gay businesses to advertise in mainstream publications and the first to advertise on TV in the 1970s. It has brought in hundreds of authors to its various store branches, including Andy Warhol, Sandra Bernhard, Armistead Maupin and Rita Mae Brown.
“Closing the store now will certainly leave something of a hole in Washington’s literary and political scene, and even though I’m excited about the opportunities that will open up for us as we move into the next phase of our life, there is a bittersweet component to it all,” said Maccubbin.
“But the book market has been changing dramatically, the GLBT community has been making progress by leaps and bounds, and 35 years is enough time for any person to devote to any one thing,” he said. “It’s just time to move on.”
Maccubbin said he and Bennett are happy to offer advice and support for someone interested in opening another LGBT bookstore in Washington.
Veteran D.C. gay activist Frank Kameny, who described himself as a loyal customer of Lambda Rising since it opened, said Maccubbin and the store deserve “enormous credit” as a nationally recognized gay community resource.
But he said he regrets that at least one aspect of the store’s mission has not been accomplished.
“No non-gay bookstore that I know of has a gay section with content remotely comparable to that of Lambda Rising,” he said. “And many of the publications found there will be unavailable elsewhere. Lambda Rising will be truly missed. Progress is often sad.”
Rick Rosendall, vice president of the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, called Lambda Rising a “landmark” for the LGBT community.
“It will certainly be a major loss for our community,” he said.
Maccubbin said the store will begin a holiday sale as early as this weekend for many of its books and other products, such as gifts items. He said a “huge liquidation sale” will begin immediately after Christmas, with the store expected to close in early January.
Virginia
Black transgender woman murdered in Va.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray killed in Petersburg on March 13
A Black transgender woman was murdered in Petersburg, Va., on March 13.
Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray, who was also known as Mable, was a drag queen who won the Miss Mayflower EOY pageant in 2015. Reports also indicate she was a well-known community activist in Virginia and in North Carolina.
Local media reports indicate police officers found Sanchez-McCray, 42, shot to death inside a home in Petersburg. These initial media reports also misgendered her.
“My heart is shattered and heavy with grief at the news of Shyyell Diamond Sanchez-McCray’s murder — the first trans life stolen from us this year,” said Victoria Kirby York, director of public policy and programs for the National Black Justice Coalition, in a statement.
Kirby York in her statement also criticized the media coverage of Sanchez-McCray’s murder.
“The early reports of Shyyell’s death stripped her of her identity by misgendering her, a deeply damaging and persistent failure by law enforcement and media that haunts these cases again and again,” she said. “Misgendering doesn’t just erase a person’s truth — it can derail justice entirely, or worse, bury a case in silence as investigators chase the wrong identity, the wrong face, the wrong name.”
Authorities have not made any arrests.
The Petersburg Bureau of Police has asked anyone with information about Sanchez-McCray’s murder to call Petersburg-Dinwiddie Crime Solvers at 804-861-1212.
District of Columbia
Trans Day of Visibility events planned
Rally on the National Mall scheduled for Saturday
The Christopher Street Project has a number of events planned for the 2026 Trans Day of Visibility, including a rally on the Mall and an “Empowerment Ball” at the Eaton Hotel. Plenaries, panel discussions and meetings with members of Congress are scheduled in the three days of programming.
Announced speakers include N.H. state Rep. Alice Wade; Commissioner of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago Precious Brady-Davis; activist and performer Miss Peppermint (“RuPaul’s Drag Race”); Lexington, Ky. Councilwoman Emma Curtis; Rabbi Abby Stein; D.C. activist and host Rayceen Pendarvis; Air Force Master Sgt. Logan Ireland; among other leaders, advocates and performers.
Conference programming on Thursday and Friday includes an educational forum and a Capitol Hill policy education day. Registration for the two-day conference has closed.
The “Trans Day of Visibility PAC Reception” is scheduled for Thursday, March 26 from 7:30-9 p.m. at As You Are (500 8th St., S.E.). Special guests include Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada) and Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.). Tickets are available at christopherstreetproject.org starting at $25.
The National Council of Jewish Women and the Christopher Street Project host a “Trans Day of Visibility Shabbat” on Friday, March 27 from 7-8 p.m. at Sixth & I (600 I St., N.W.). The service is to be led by Rabbi Jenna Shaw and Rabbi Abby Stein.
The “Now You See Me: Trans Empowerment Social & Ball” is scheduled for Friday, March 27 from 6-11 p.m. at the Eaton Hotel (1201 K. St., N.W.). The trans-themed drag ball is hosted by the Marsha P. Johnson Institute with support from the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs, the Capital Ballroom Council, the Christopher Street Project, the Center for Black Equity, Generation for Common Good, and Parenting is Political. RSVP online at christopherstreetproject.org.
The National Transgender Day of Visibility Rally is scheduled for Saturday, March 28 on the National Mall at 11 a.m. The rally will include speakers and performances. Following the rally, attendees are encouraged to participate in the “No Kings” rally being held at Anacostia Park.
Virginia
Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ends
Voters in November will consider repealing marriage amendment
The Virginia General Assembly’s 2026 legislative session ended on March 14.
Lawmakers have yet to approve a budget, but they did pass a resolution that paves the way for a referendum on whether to repeal the state’s constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman. Lawmakers also advanced House Bill 60, which would protect PrEP users from insurance discrimination.
Democratic Gov. Abigail Spanberger has until April 13 to decide to pass, amend, or veto legislation before it goes back to the House of Delegates on April 22.
Spanberger on Feb. 6 signed the bill that sets the stage for the marriage amendment referendum. Voters will consider whether to “remove the ban on same-sex marriage; (ii) affirm that two adults may marry regardless of sex, gender, or race; and (iii) require all legally valid marriages to be treated equally under the law?”
Equality Virginia has been working during this legislative cycle to urge lawmakers to allocate funding towards LGBTQ rights. The budget would expand funding for schools, competency training for the 988 suicide hotline, and funding to provide gender affirming care to LGBTQ youth.
“As the budget moves through conference and the Reconvene Session approaches on April 22, Equality Virginia remains focused on ensuring our victories this session translate into durable protections,” Equality Virginia Executive Director Narissa Rahaman told the Washington Blade in a statement. “Progress on marriage equality, nondiscrimination protections, and HIV care funding was essential, but Virginia must do more.”
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