Arts & Entertainment

Calendar: March 11

Concerts, parties, club meetings and more through March 17

Published

15 years ago

March 10, 2011

Washington National Opera’s production of ‘Madama Butterfly’ is at the Kennedy Center this week. (Photo by Scott Suchman, courtesy of Washington National Opera)

Tonight

Ziegfeld’s presents Long Island Heat as Latino night returns tonight. There’s a $5 cover from 9 to 10:30 p.m. and a $10 cover after 10:30.

Women in Their Twenties, a social discussion and dinner group, will be meeting tonight from 8 to 9 p.m. at the D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.).

Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., N.W.) presents “Inspiration” with paintings by Betsy Forster and “Surfaces” with paintings by Michelee Cormier. Forster paints landscapes, particularly uninhabited areas. Cormier “captures the deterioration of urban surfaces over time.” The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the exhibits will be on display through March 27.

Lace Lounge (2214 Rhode Island Ave., N.E.) presents Social Climax tonight from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. There’s a $10 cover all night and free drinks before 11:30 p.m.

The D.C. Independent Film Festival continues today with two sessions at the Gala Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.). The first session at 7 p.m. will feature movies about life and liberty and the second session at 9:45 p.m. will feature comedies. Tickets to individual sessions are $10 for general admission or $7 for students and seniors. Other ticket packages are available. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit dciff.org. The festival will continue through Sunday.

Saturday, March 12

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) launches its new monthly event, “Just Circuit” at 10 p.m. featuring all house music with DJ Wayne G upstairs and DH Kuhmeleon downstairs. For more information, visit cobaltdc.com or justcircuit.com.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) presents Funkytown, a retro dance party on the main floor with DJ Ed Bailey playing music from the ‘70s, ‘80s and ‘90s. There will also be live performances by x-faction and the Ladies of Town. Doors open at 10 p.m. There is an $8 cover before 11 p.m. and $12 afterward. All attendees must be 21 or older.

Also at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) is the Team D.C. Fashion Show and Model Search. This event benefits the Team D.C. College Scholarship program. There is a $10 cover. Doors open at 7 p.m. Show starts at 8 p.m. For more information, visit teamdc.org.

plan b gallery (1530 14th St., N.W.) is hosting an opening reception for its exhibit of paintings by Kathy Beynette, Patrick Campbell and Michelee Montalbano from 6 to 8 p.m. tonight. Beynette’s narrative paintings are “fun and whimsical.” Campbell’s paintings are complex and saturated with color and Montabano creates a “ghost-like presence” in her paintings.

Sunday, March 13

As part of “maximum INDIA,” the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) hosts Bhangra class with DJ Rekha at 3 p.m. on the Millennium Stage. This is a free event.

The D.C. Kings continue their 11th anniversary celebration with a Best of show at Phase 1 (525 8th St., S.E.) tonight at 10 p.m. The cover ranges from $5 to $10 and money raised will go to Chris Hara, a former king who was paralyzed in a motorcycle accident.

Flip-Out, D.C.’s LGBT flip cup league, has its weekly games today at 5 p.m. at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.). For more information, visit flipoutdc.com.

Monday, March 14

The Washington National Opera presents “Madama Butterfly” tonight at 7 p.m. at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) with Catherine Naglestad playing the role of Cio-Cio-San. The performance is in Italian with English supertitles. There will be an artist Q&A following the performance. Tickets range from $55 to $300 and can be purchased online at kennedy-center.org.

Bears do Yoga at Green Lantern (1335 Green Court N.W.) tonight at 6:30 p.m. Class lasts for an hour and serves as an introduction to yoga for people of all different body types and physical abilities. It’s taught by Michael Brazell. For more information, visit dccenter.org.

Tuesday, March 15

Mautner Project is having a volunteer orientation today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Ideal volunteers should have access to a car, good driving record and a commitment to the needs of cancer patients. For more information, call 202-332-5536 or e-mail [email protected].

Druid Ireland presents the opening of Penelope at Studio Theatre (1501 14th St., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Penelope is a riff on Homer’s Odyssey and is about four suitors dressed in Speedos and terrycloth robes trying to woo a young woman. Tickets range from $35 to $50. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit studiotheatre.org.

Join Burgundy Crescent Volunteers to help pack safer sex kits from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight at FUK!T’s new packing location Green Lantern, 1335 Green Ct., N.W.

Wednesday, March 16

D.C. Ice Breakers host their monthly open skate tonight from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. at the Kettler Capitals Iceplex, on top of the Ballston Common Mall parking garage (627 N Glebe Rd.) in Arlington. After skating the group will hit a local bar for a social hour. Skating is $8 plus $3 for skate rental. For more information, visit dcicebreakers.com.

The American Humanist Association presents “Humanism — An Introduction,” a one hour overview of the progressive, nontheist philosophy and an introduction to related local groups. This overview will be held at 1777 T St., N.W., at 2 p.m. It’s gay led but not gay specific. For more information, e-mail [email protected] or call 202-238-9088.

The Tom Davaron Social Bridge Club will meet at 7:30 tonight at the Dignity Center, 721 8th St., S.E., (across from Marine Barracks) for social bridge. No partner is needed. Visit lambdabridge.com and click on “Social Bridge in Washington” for more information.

Thursday, March 17

As part of “maximum INDIA,” the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) hosts a performance at 6 p.m. in the Eisenhower Theater of “Ticket to Bollywood,” showcasing the song and dance movie genre live on stage with artistic direction by Shubhra Bhardwaj. This is a free event.

Nellie’s is opening at 11 a.m. today for “Kegs and Eggs” as part of its St. Patrick’s Day celebration. Some other St. Patrick’s day specials include green beer, Irish car bombs, shepherd’s pie and green mini Maria cupcakes.

FotoDC and the Crystal City Business Improvement District present the opening of Flash, a month-long even showcasing photography. There will be two separate exhibits, a library of photography books and a lounge for refreshments and discussion. The penthouse gallery (2450 Crystal Drive) in Arlington is open from 5 to 10 p.m. The exhibit will run through April 17.

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.