Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: events through Dec. 23

Published

15 years ago

December 16, 2010

Friday, Dec. 17

The Gay Men’s Chorus production “Men in Tights: A Pink Nutcracker” opens tonight at 8 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University. See page 27 for ticket prices and times.

The Roches will be performing at the Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave.) in Alexandria tonight at 7:30 p.m. Lucy Wainwright Roche will be opening. Tickets are $35 and can be purchased at birchmere.com.

Brightest Young Gays will have a happy hour at the U St. Music Hall (1115 U St., N.W.) tonight from 5 to 10 p.m. DJs Shea Van Horn, vAnniety Kills and Bradley will be providing music. For more information, visit brightestyoungthings.com.

Lianna Carrera will be performing a stand up comedy routine at Phase 1 (525 8th St., S.E.) tonight from 8:30 to 10 p.m. Carrera is the gay daughter of a Southern Baptist minister and deaf mother. Cover is $5. For more information visit phase1dc.com or liannacarrera.com.

Apex presents “A Very Merry Caliente Grande” with DJ Michael Brandon in the main hall and special performances by Jamaica Rouge and friends. Attendees can get their photo taken with a shirtless Santa. Drink specials include $4 margaritas. There’s a $10 cover charge.

Liz Phair will be performing at 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) tonight. Doors open at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at 930.com.

Team D.C. and 28 other gay sports groups will be hosting the third annual Holiday Extravaganza for D.C. Gay Sports tonight at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) from 6:30 to 9 p.m. There will be free holiday appetizers, drink specials, raffle prizes and surprises.

Saturday, Dec. 18

MIXTAPE D.C. is tonight at the old Rock & Roll Hotel (1353 H St., N.E.) from 10 p.m. to 3:00 a.m. MIXTAPE is a dance party for queer music lovers and their pals that features DJs Shea Van Horn and Matt Bailer playing an eclectic mix of electro, alt-pop, indie rock, house, disco, new wave and anything else danceable. $5 cover for 21 and over.

The D.C. DemonCats will take on Scare Force One in a “Happy Brawlidays Bout” today at 4 p.m. at the D.C. Armory (2001 E. Capitol St., N.E.). Tickets are $12 for ages 12 and up, $10 with a valid military I.D., $6 for children 6 to 11 and free for kids 5 and under. Doors open at 3 p.m.

Dan Noel will be celebrating his 5oth birthday and has chosen Mautner Project as a beneficiary for his birthday benefit at Cloud 9 (234 Rehoboth Ave.) in Rehoboth tonight at 9 p.m. There is a suggested donation of $10 and the proceeds will go to Mautner Project and AIDS Delaware.

The Fez and Moustache Party returns to DC9 (1940 9th St., N.W.) tonight from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. featuring Romani rock, Klezmer, Slavic soul and Balkan beats. For more information, visit dcnine.com.

DJ Smudge presents Rock and Rule dance party featuring DJ vAnniety Kills tonight at the Rock and Roll Hotel (1353 H St., N.E.) from 9:30 p.m. to 2:30 a.m. The night will feature rock jams, guilty pleasures, indie, hiphop, R&B, disco, house and dance hits. This is a free event. Attendees must be 21 or older.

Ziegfeld’s presents its annual Christmas show hosted by Ella Fitzgerald tonight at 11:15 p.m.

Apex (1415 22nd St., N.W.) presents “The Showdown: House vs. Hip Hop” with DJ Melissa spinning the house musch and DJ Gigi spinning the hip hop beats. Kristina Kelly and her Girls of Glamour will perform at 11 p.m. DJ Michael Brandon will be spinning Latin sounds in the east wing dance lounge.

The Ladies of LURe present Bare featuring DJ Rosie tonight at 10 p.m. at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.). Cover is $5 before midnight and $8 after.

Have the Grindr app? Show the box office and get into Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) for free for the Grindr party tonight at 10 p.m. featuring DJ Billy Carroll from New York as part of his farewell tour. Drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. Cover is $8 before 11 p.m. and $12 after.

Sunday, Dec. 19

Eatonville Restaurant (2121 14th St., N.W.) will be holding another installation of its monthly series, Food and Folklore, which intertwines storytelling and food, tonight at 6:30 p.m. This month is Gullah with Charlotte Jenkins, author of “Gullah Cuisine.” To purchase tickets, visit eatonvillerestaurant.com

Lambda Divers will be having its monthly happy hour at Nellie’s (900 U St., N.W.) tonight from 5 to 7 p.m. $1 from every Nellie beer sold goes to Lambda Divers.

The Community Triangle LGBTQ Book Club will meet today at 3 p.m. at Cage Izmir (44 Frederick Rd.) in Funkstown. The book will be “The Story of Edgar Sawfelle” by David Wroblewski and will be available instore for members for $15.99.

Monday, Dec. 20

The American City Diner (5532 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) will be showing the film “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” tonight. The movie starts at 8 p.m. The full menu will be available. Admission is free. For more information, visit americancitydiner.com.

Tuesday, Dec. 21

The Choral Arts Society of Washington presents “Christmas Music: the Treasured Holiday Tradition” at the Kennedy Center concert hall (2700 F St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $65 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org.

River Road Unitarian Universalist Congregation (6301 River Rd.) in Bethesda, will hold a Multigenerational Winter Solstice Celebration beginning at 7 p.m. All ages are invited.

The D.C. Metro Area Gay Male Witches Coven will hold a yule ritual and social tonight at 7 p.m. For more information call 240-314-9020 or visit the group’s Facebook page.

Wednesday, Dec. 22

Secrets (1824 Half St., S.W.) is holdings it monthly amateur dance contest tonight beginning at 11 p.m. Contests must sign up at the main bar between 10 and 10:45 p.m.

The Lincoln Center Theater presents Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific today at the Kennedy Center opera house (2700 F St., N.W.) with two showings at 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $39 to $150 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org.

Thursday, Dec. 23

The Washington Chorus presents “A Candlelight Christmas” at the Kennedy Center concert hall (2700 F St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. Tickets range from $15 to $65 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org.

The American City Diner (5532 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) will be showing the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” tonight. The movie starts at 8 p.m. The full menu will be available. Admission is free. For more information, visit americancitydiner.com.

Christmas services — looking ahead

Christmas Eve

Foundry United Methodist Church (16th and P streets, N.W.) has a family-oriented service at 6:30 p.m. tonight and a Christmas concert at 8 as a prelude to the “lessons and carols” candle-light service at 8:30.

Metropolitan Community Church of Washington (474 Ridge St., N.W.) will be holding Christmas Eve worship tonight at 8. MCC-D.C. is the region’s largest mostly LGBT church.

Washington National Cathedral (3101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) will have its Christmas Eve Festival Holy Eucharist at 6 and 10 p.m.

Covenant Baptist Church (3845 S. Capitol St.) will be holding its Christmas Eve Service at 7 p.m. tonight.

National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, N.W.) will be holding its Christmas Eve service today at 7 p.m., starting with a festive prelude followed by a candlelight communion.

The Christ Church on Capitol Hill (620 G St., S.E.) will be holding a Christmas Pageant and Holy Eucharist at 5:30 p.m. It will also have a choral prelude at 10 p.m., the Holy Eucharist at 10:30 followed by coffee hour.

Saint John’s Episcopal Church (3240 O St., N.W.) will be holding its Holy Eucharist along with a Christmas Pageant at 4 p.m. A Feast of Carols and Noels will begin at 8:30, followed by the Festival Holy Eucharist at 9 p.m.

Seekers Church (276 Carroll St., N.W.) will be holding its Christmas Eve worship tonight at 7.

First Trinity Lutheran Church (309 E St., N.W.) will have its Christmas Eve service at 7:30 p.m. following a pre-service of Christmas music that starts at 7 p.m.

Church of the Pilgrims (2201 P St., N.W.) will have its Christmas Eve service tonight at 7 p.m.

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) will be holding a vigil at 4:30 p.m. following a prelude at 4, Vigilia at 6:30 p.m. following a concerto at 6, and the main service at 10 p.m. with Cardinal Wuerl presiding.

Christmas Day

Washington National Cathedral (3101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) will have its Christmas Day Festival Holy Eucharist at 9 a.m. today. Its Christmas Day Holy Eucharist, Rite II will start at noon. There will also be a Christmas Day organ recital at 5:15 p.m.

Christ Church on Capitol Hill (620 G St., S.E.) will be holding its Holy Eucharist today at 10 a.m.

Saint John’s Episcopal Church (3240 O St., N.W.) will be holding its Holy Eucharist with traditional carols today at 10 a.m.

Dignity Washington will hold its Christmas Mass tonight at 6 p.m. at St. Margaret’s Church (1820 Connecticut Ave., N.W.)

Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle (1725 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) will have multiple services today starting at 8:30 a.m. The other services are at 10 and 11:30 a.m. and a service in Spanish at 1 p.m.

Puerto Rico

Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga

Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show

Published

3 hours ago

February 9, 2026

Staff reports

Bad Bunny performs at the Super Bowl halftime show on Feb. 8, 2026. (Screen capture via NFL/YouTube)

Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.

Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.

“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”

La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.

“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”

Drag

PHOTOS: Drag in rural Virginia

Performers face homophobia, find community

Published

1 day ago

February 8, 2026

Landon Shackelford

Four drag performers dance in front of an anti-LGBTQ protester outside the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va. (Blade photo by Landon Shackelford)

Drag artists perform for crowds in towns across Virginia. The photographer follows Gerryatrick, Shenandoah, Climaxx, Emerald Envy among others over eight months as they perform at venues in the Virginia towns of Staunton, Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg.

(Washington Blade photos by Landon Shackelford)

Books

New book explores homosexuality in ancient cultures

‘Queer Thing About Sin’ explains impact of religious credo in Greece, Rome

Published

1 day ago

February 8, 2026

Terri Schlichenmeyer

(Book cover image courtesy of Bloomsbury)

‘The Queer Thing About Sin’
By Harry Tanner
c.2025, Bloomsbury
$28/259 pages

Nobody likes you very much.

That’s how it seems sometimes, doesn’t it? Nobody wants to see you around, they don’t want to hear your voice, they can’t stand the thought of your existence and they’d really rather you just go away. It’s infuriating, and in the new book “The Queer Thing About Sin” by Harry Tanner, you’ll see how we got to this point.

When he was a teenager, Harry Tanner says that he thought he “was going to hell.”

For years, he’d been attracted to men and he prayed that it would stop. He asked for help from a lay minister who offered Tanner websites meant to repress his urges, but they weren’t the panacea Tanner hoped for. It wasn’t until he went to college that he found the answers he needed and “stopped fearing God’s retribution.”

Being gay wasn’t a sin. Not ever, but he “still wanted to know why Western culture believed it was for so long.”

Historically, many believe that older men were sexual “mentors” for teenage boys, but Tanner says that in ancient Greece and Rome, same-sex relationships were common between male partners of equal age and between differently-aged pairs, alike. Clarity comes by understanding relationships between husbands and wives then, and careful translation of the word “boy,” to show that age wasn’t a factor, but superiority and inferiority were.

In ancient Athens, queer love was considered to be “noble” but after the Persians sacked Athens, sex between men instead became an acceptable act of aggression aimed at conquered enemies. Raping a male prisoner was encouraged but, “Gay men became symbols of a depraved lack of self-control and abstinence.”

Later Greeks believed that men could turn into women “if they weren’t sufficiently virile.” Biblical interpretations point to more conflict; Leviticus specifically bans queer sex but “the Sumerians actively encouraged it.” The Egyptians hated it, but “there are sporadic clues that same-sex partners lived together in ancient Egypt.”

Says Tanner, “all is not what it seems.”

So you say you’re not really into ancient history. If it’s not your thing, then “The Queer Thing About Sin” won’t be, either.

Just know that if you skip this book, you’re missing out on the kind of excitement you get from reading mythology, but what’s here is true, and a much wider view than mere folklore. Author Harry Tanner invites readers to go deep inside philosophy, religion, and ancient culture, but the information he brings is not dry. No, there are major battles brought to life here, vanquished enemies and death – but also love, acceptance, even encouragement that the citizens of yore in many societies embraced and enjoyed. Tanner explains carefully how religious credo tied in with homosexuality (or didn’t) and he brings readers up to speed through recent times.

While this is not a breezy vacation read or a curl-up-with-a-blanket kind of book, “The Queer Thing About Sin” is absolutely worth spending time with. If you’re a thinking person and can give yourself a chance to ponder, you’ll like it very much.