Local
Ray stays out of interim Council race
12 seek temporary appointment to Kwame Brown’s seat
Clark Ray, the gay candidate who lost his race for an at-large D.C. Council seat in the September primary, has chosen not to enter a preliminary contest for another at-large seat that will become vacant on Jan. 1.
The 82-member D.C. Democratic State Committee is scheduled to vote Jan. 6 to appoint an interim replacement for Council member Kwame Brown (D-At-Large), who won election Nov. 2 as Council chairman.
Ray did not file as a candidate for the State Committee appointment process by the Nov. 6 deadline. He did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
Some political observers say the winner of the State Committee appointment for interim Council member will have the advantage of incumbency and greater name recognition in a special citywide election expected to take place in spring of 2011. Twelve candidates filed papers to compete for the interim appointment, including former Ward 5 Council member Vincent Orange, who is considered the frontrunner.
Earlier this year Ray said he would consider running for Brown’s seat in the 2011 special election if he lost his race in September for the seat held by Council member Phil Mendelson.
Mendelson, who has a strong pro-LGBT record, won the primary with 63 percent of the vote, beating Ray in precincts with high concentrations of gay voters. D.C. Shadow Sen. Michael D. Brown came in second, with 27 percent of the vote. Ray finished third with 9 percent of the vote, losing in every precinct.
Gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein, who served as a Ray campaign adviser, said Ray would have a decent chance of winning in the special election despite his poor showing in the September primary. Rosenstein noted that special elections are known for yielding a low voter turnout. He said Ray could win with 10,000 votes — which he received in the primary — in a multi-candidate contest.
“He could pull this off if the gay vote unifies behind him, which I think it will,” Rosenstein said.
At least two other candidates said to be considering entering the race for the special election have strong pro-gay records and could take LGBT votes away from Ray. Adam Clampitt received gay support as an at-large candidate in the 2008 Democratic primary before withdrawing from the race and backing Michael A. Brown, who won the primary and general election.
Republican Patrick Mara, an early supporter of same-sex marriage, stunned the political establishment when he defeated longtime Council member Carol Schwartz in the 2008 GOP primary. Mara lost in the general election to Michael A. Brown but came back to win a seat on the D.C. school board in Ward 1 earlier this month. Mara is said to be weighing whether to run in the special election for the at-large Council seat.
“Clark spent over $200,000, ran for two years, knocked on doors throughout the city, hung signs everywhere and got less than 10 percent of the vote,” said gay activist Bob Summersgill, who campaigned for Mendelson in the September primary.
Summersgill noted that Ray and several candidates competing for the interim appointment for the vacant at-large seat, who also ran and lost in Council races this year, “need to explain why we should give them any consideration in the special election.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
Pope Leo XIV: Family based on ‘stable union between a man and a woman’
Wes Moore signs HIV decriminalization bill
