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Thousands brave heat for pride parade, festival

Mayor, ten Council members march in parade

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With the U.S. Capitol as a dramatic backdrop, tens of thousands of LGBT people and their friends and families jammed Pennsylvania Avenue on Sunday for the District of Columbiaā€™s 36th annual Capital Pride festival.

One day earlier, D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and ten members of the 13-member D.C. City Council joined dozens of LGBT groups, colorful floats, marching bands, and thousands of individual marchers in the annual Capital Pride Parade, which snaked its way along city streets lined with thousands of spectators.

Gray also spoke at Sundayā€™s festival before introducing the dayā€™s lead entertainer, Broadway actress and singer Jennifer Holliday, who debuted her new single ā€œMagic,ā€ marking the songā€™s word premiere.

Although city officials and police no longer provide official crowd estimates for large-scale events, Capital Pride organizers said they believe between 200,000 and 250,000 people turned out for the parade and festival.

ā€œEverything was absolutely fantastic,ā€ said Capital Pride spokesperson Scott Lusk. ā€œAll of our community partners and volunteers and attendees showed up in great numbers and with great enthusiasm. It was an absolute fantastic weekend.ā€

Eighteen-year-old Tiffany Johnson from Southeast D.C., who stood with a group of friends near the festivalā€™s main stage just before Holliday began her performance, said this yearā€™s festival represented the first time she had ever attended Capital Pride.

ā€œItā€™s just awesome,ā€ she said. ā€œItā€™s just so great to be able to come out to something like this.ā€

Angelo Jimenez, 54, a resident of Richmond, Va., said this yearā€™s festival marked the 31st consecutive year he has traveled to D.C. to attend the cityā€™s Pride festival.

ā€œI came for the first time in 1980 and havenā€™t missed a single year,ā€ he said. ā€œThat tells you how much this means to me.ā€

Other festival attendees who approached the Bladeā€™s booth identified themselves as residents of states up and down the mid Atlantic region as well as from the D.C. metropolitan area.

Gray and a contingent of city officials, including gay activist Jeffrey Richardson, director of the cityā€™s Office of GLBT Affairs, walked along Saturday the entire parade route, which began at 22nd and P Streets, N.W., near Dupont Circle, and ended nearly two miles later at 14th and N Streets, N.W., near Thomas Circle.

Most of the Council members, including gay Council members David Catania (I-At-Large) and Jim Graham (D-Ward 1), also walked or rode in cars along the full parade route.

The other Council members participating in the parade included Council Chair Kwame Brown (D-At-Large) and Council members Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), Michael Brown (I-At-Large), Vincent Orange (D-At-Large), Jack Evans (D-Ward 2), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Muriel Bowser (D-Ward 4), and Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6).

Gray had invited the Council members to join his contingent, which he named the ā€œD.C. 41,ā€ in recognition of the 41 city officials and activists, including Gray and six Council members, who were arrested in April outside a Senate office building near the Capitol in a protest against congressional intrusion in D.C. affairs.

But most of the Council members chose to march or ride in their own contingents just behind the mayorā€™s contingent.

Following closely behind the D.C. elected officialsā€™ contingents was Adam Ebbin, the openly gay member of the Virginia House of Delegates from Alexandria, who is running for a seat in the Virginia Senate.

The parade was led by an escort of D.C. police cars staffed by members of the departmentā€™s Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit.

Following closely behind the police escort was a contingent of leaders and supporters of the Trevor Project, a nationally recognized organization that works to prevent LGBT teen suicide. Capital Pride selected the Trevor Project contingent as the paradeā€™s grand marshal.

A D.C. Public Schools contingent was among the parade contingents that attracted considerable attention and drew loud applause throughout the parade route. It included teachers, parents, and elementary school kids, with some waving rainbow flags.

Similar to past years, D.C.ā€™s Different Drummers, the cityā€™s LGBT marching band, and the Lesbian and Gay Big Apple Corps Marching Band of New York City marched and performed in the parade.

Capital Pride organizers said they were especially pleased with the wide diversity of groups and vendors that participated in both the parade in festival. In addition to a large number of national and local LGBT organizations, such as the Human Rights Campaign, the National Gay & Lesbian Task Force, the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, and the Gay & Lesbian Activists Alliance, LGBT oriented religious, sports, and social groups participated in both event, organizers said.

A number of the cityā€™s gay bars and nightclubs also had colorful floats in the parade. Bathing suit clad men danced to music blaring from a float from Nellieā€™s Sport Bar. Drag performers and male go-go dancers in bathing suites also danced to music broadcast from loud speakers atop two large flatbed trucks that made up the float for Ziegfeldā€™s-Secrets, the gay club in Southwest D.C. that features drag shows and male strippers.

A number of new commercial and corporate venders participated in this year at the festival, according to Capital Pride officials. Among them were the Saab automobile company and Macyā€™s department stores. Both were among this yearā€™s Capital Pride corporate sponsors.

Among some of the others displaying their information at festival booths were the Goddard Space Flight Center Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Advisory Committee; the Corcoran Gallery of Art and College of Art; the Gay-Straight Alliance of Montgomery Blair High School in Montgomery County, Md.; the Embassy of Sweden; Amtrak; the Capital Cat Clinic; the D.C. Office of Human Rights and D.C. Child and Family Services Agency.

Capital Pride board president Michael Lutz said this yearā€™s festival included expanded family related activities, with a special family section that provided childrenā€™s games and childrenā€™s entertainment.

The Washington Nationals Baseball Team also had a presence at the festival, with at least one of its ā€œracing presidents,ā€ actors dressed as past U.S. president with oversized puppet-like heads, walking through the festival grounds.

The Nationals are hosting the annual LGBT ā€œNight Out at the Nationalsā€ game on June 21, which is sponsored by the local LGBT sports group Team D.C.

Capital Pride officials have said it costs about $500,000 to put on the annual D.C. pride events, including the parade and festival. Lutz said contributions from corporate sponsors, at least 25 local and national LGBT and LGBT-supportive organizations who sign on as Pride Community Partners, and fundraising events generate the funds needed to pay for Capital Pride.

ā€œWeā€™re in great shape financially,ā€ said Lutz, who noted that a full accounting of the groupā€™s finances is released each year after an independent accountant completes the bookkeeping process.

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Celebrity News

HRC releases ā€˜Queer Renaissance Syllabusā€™

BeyoncĆ©ā€™s hit album inspired curriculum

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BeyoncƩ performs at FedEx Field in Landover, Md., on Aug. 6, 2023. The Human Rights Campaign has released a curriculum that her "Renaissance" album inspired. (Washington Blade photo by Isabelle Kravis)

In a move aimed at celebrating the beauty, brilliance and resilience of the LGBTQ community, the Human Rights Campaign unveiled the “Queer Renaissance Syllabus” that BeyoncĆ©ā€™s ā€œRenaissanceā€ album inspired. 

Curated by Justin Calhoun, Leslie Hall and Chauna Lawson of the HRC’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Program, the syllabus includes a variety of academic articles, essays, films and other media rooted in Black queer and feminist studies. Each piece is directly inspired by the tracks on BeyoncĆ©’s Billboard 200-topping dance album, “Renaissance.”

BeyoncĆ©’s album “Renaissance” stands as a cultural milestone, celebrating the Black queer roots of dance music while shedding light on overlooked Black queer artists. Inspired by her late-Uncle Johnny, the album not only garnered critical acclaim but also shed light on the often marginalized contributions of Black queer artists. Winning four Grammys and yielding chart-topping hits like ā€œBreak My Soulā€ and ā€œCuff It,ā€ the album sparked discussions about economic impact and cultural representation.

Amid its success, legislative challenges arose, with Florida and Texas enacting bans on DEI initiatives in public colleges. Recognizing the album’s transformative potential, HRC developed the “Queer Renaissance Syllabus” to leverage its impact for education and activism.

Tailored for educators, youth-serving professionals, DEI practitioners, higher education leaders and admirers of BeyoncĆ©’s artistry, the syllabus aims to encourage meaningful discussions, enrich lesson plans, and explore innovative ways to honor the vibrancy and significance of LGBTQ individuals and their culture.

With six themes anchoring the syllabus, ranging from “intersectionality and inclusivity” to “social justice and activism,” it provides a comprehensive exploration of various facets of LGBTQ experiences and expressions. Fan-favorite tracks from the album are paired with scholarly readings, offering insights into empowerment, self-acceptance and the transformative power of artistic expression. The syllabus also reinforces HRCā€™s efforts to highlight, amplify and re-center Black and queer voices.

By providing links to articles, books, podcasts and interviews, each associated with a song from the album, it celebrates the rich cultural heritage and contributions of the Black queer community.

The concluding section of the syllabus includes BeyoncĆ©’s tribute to Oā€™Shea Sibley, a young Black queer person who was murdered in Brooklyn, N.Y., last July while voguing to ā€œRenaissanceā€ songs at a gas station. HRC also includes a statement that condemns hate crimes.

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Movies

Neo-noir ā€˜Femmeā€™ offers sexy, intense revenge fantasy

A work of real and thrilling cinematic vision

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George MacKay and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett star in ā€˜Femme.ā€™ (Photo courtesy of Utopia)

They say ā€œrevenge is sweet,ā€ and it must be true. Why else would so many of our popular stories, dating all the way back to ā€œMedeaā€ and beyond, be focused on the idea of getting ā€œevenā€ with the people who have done us wrong?

Itā€™s a concept with obvious appeal for anyone who has felt unjustly used by the world ā€“ or, more accurately, by the people in it ā€“ but that has particular resonance, perhaps, for modern queer audiences, long used to being relegated to the status of ā€œvictimā€ in the narratives we see on our screens. In ā€œFemmeā€ ā€” the new UK indie thriller helmed by first-time feature directors Sam H. Freeman and Ng Choon Ping, now in limited theatrical release and expanding wider over the next two weeks ā€” it provides the irresistible hook for a gripping tale of calculated vengeance in the face of anti-queer violence. Like the best of such stories, however, itā€™s as much a cautionary tale as it is a wish-fulfillment fantasy.

Set in London, it centers on Jules (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), aka Aphrodite Banks, a popular drag performer in the cityā€™s queer club scene who, after a performance one night, steps out in full costume to buy a pack of cigarettes and becomes the victim of a traumatic ā€œgay bashingā€ incident at the hands of a young man goaded to violence by a thuggish gang of friends. Months later, though heā€™s recovered from his physical injuries, he is still deeply affected by the inner scars that linger. Robbed of the confidence that allowed him to perform, heā€™s withdrawn into a reclusive life, until concern from his friends and housemates prompts him to finally venture out into the world for a night of cruising at a gay sauna ā€“ where he encounters his bully doing the same thing. 

Unrecognizable and anonymously masculine out of his drag persona, Jules finds himself beginning a dangerous and duplicitous game in which he plans to ā€œoutā€ his former attacker ā€“ whose name, as he learns, is Preston (George MacKay) ā€“ in the most humiliating way possible. As his scheme begins to play out, however, he encounters an obstacle: in getting to know the closeted Preston, he is surprised to discover not only empathy for someone living their life in terrified camouflage, but a mutual attraction that develops despite the horrific history between them.

Framed as a self-described ā€œneo-noirā€ story, a designation that implies a certain flavor of moral ambiguity as much as it does a tense and shadowy tale of intrigue or a psychologically complex tone, itā€™s a movie that relies heavily on style in order to sell its conceptual premise. Realistically, we might question the boldness that permits our protagonist to enact such a potentially hazardous scheme, but in the context of its genre trappings we are lulled into accepting it. And while most of us are likely ā€œjadedā€ enough to question the possibility of tenderness between its two leading characters, the accepted conceits of the film noir form are enough to sell it to us ā€“ or at least allow us to grapple with it alongside Jules, whose righteously Machiavellian master plan is threatened by the feelings he ā€œcatchesā€ in spite of himself.

That, of course, is part of the whole point. ā€œFemme,ā€ though it establishes itself by virtue of its very title as a testament to the struggle to ā€œpassā€ for straight in a world that places a value judgment on perceived adherence to a strict norm for gender and sexuality, hinges on the idea that such things arenā€™t quite as clear-cut as we want to make them. Despite the black-and-white certainty we cling to when it comes to the subject of abusive or toxic relationships, thereā€™s an emotional component that can only be ignored or dismissed at our peril, and even our most resolute intentions can be undermined by the shades of gray we discover in our hearts. 

Freeman and Ng ā€“ who also wrote the screenplay, adapting their own BAFTA-nominated short film from 2021 (starring Harris Dickinson and Paapa Essiedu) into a feature-length expansion ā€“ seem bent on challenging our snap judgments, on forcing us to sympathize with our oppressors by showing us the ways in which they, too, are prevented from living a fully authentic life by the expectations of their cultural environment. Even more challenging for many modern audiences, perhaps, may be the unavoidable observation that, in enacting his plan of revenge, Jules crosses the line between being a victim and being a victimizer ā€“ a fine point that may trigger uncomfortable implications in a social environment that has become marked by divisive moral constructs and hardline ethical posturing.

Before we scare you off with discussion of high-concept themes and ā€œculture warā€ rhetoric, however, itā€™s crucial to bring up the elements that lift ā€œFemmeā€ above and beyond the level of so many such narrative films and makes it a somewhat unexpectedly potent piece of cinematic storytelling ā€“ and all of them have to do with the skill and intention behind it.

As to the former, the movieā€™s first-time directors manage a remarkable debut, steeping their film in moody, genre-appropriate visuals and murky morality. They pave a path beyond the easy assessments proscribed for us by conventional thinking, and force us to follow our sympathies into a disquieting confrontation between what we ā€œknowā€ as right and what we feel as true; at the same time, they push back against any natural sentimentality we might have about the situation, stressing the toxicity of the relationship in the middle of their film, the ironically-reversed insincerity of its dynamic ā€“ and, perhaps most importantly, the reality of the defining circumstances around it. While we might find ourselves longing for a happier resolution than the one we expect, the film makes no pretense that these two men might overcome the deep denial and traumatic associations ā€“ not to mention the calculated lack of honesty on the side of its de facto protagonist, to achieve some kind of ā€œhappy endingā€ between themselves. Nevertheless, we hope for it, in spite of ourselves.

That delicate dynamic works largely because of the movieā€™s lead actors. Both Stewart-Jarrett (ā€œCandymanā€) and MacKay (ā€œPrideā€, ā€œ1917ā€) deliver fully invested, utterly relatable performances, finding the emotional truth behind their interactions with as much palpable authenticity as they bring to the chemistry between them. They force us to abandon our preconceived ideas about each character by finding the human presence behind them, and it makes the storyā€™s final outcome feel as heartbreaking as it does inevitable.

As for intention, ā€œFemmeā€ ā€“ which premiered at last yearā€™s Berlin International Film Festival and went on to gather acclaim across the international film fest circuit ā€“ might be a little hard to take for the easily triggered, we wonā€™t deny it. Still, itā€™s a work of real and thrilling cinematic vision that goes beyond easy morality to highlight the tragedy that comes from being forced to live behind a mask for the sake of societal acceptance. Itā€™s also exciting, smart, and unexpectedly sexy ā€“ all of which make it a highly- recommended addition to your watchlist.

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Out & About

Trans Day of Visibility is here and hereā€™s how to celebrate

Howard County LGBTQIA Commission to host Columbia event

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Howard County LGBTQIA Commission will host its inaugural event celebrating Trans Day of Visibility on Sunday, March 31 at 4 p.m. at Busboys and Poets in Columbia, Md.

The purpose of this inaugural event is to create a welcoming and inclusive space that celebrates and amplifies the voices of the trans community and its allies, highlights the joy and resilience of trans and non-binary individuals everywhere, and elevates their voices and shares their diverse experiences. 

This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.Ā 

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