Local
O’Malley headlines fundraiser for Equality Md.
Governor, elected officials pledge support for 2012 marriage bill
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley attended a fundraiser last week for Equality Maryland. He has pledged to introduce a marriage equality bill next year. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, and Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler were among more than a dozen state elected officials and more than 200 people who turned out on Sept. 7 for a fundraiser for Equality Maryland, the statewide LGBT advocacy group.
The event, held in the Chevy Chase, Md., Town Hall, pulled in $35,000 in cash and pledges that were expected to bring the total raised to $72,000, according to Equality Maryland board member Lisa Polyak.
Polyak and Equality Maryland board member Patrick Wojahn said the fundraiser was billed as a celebration to honor the state’s elected officials who support legislation to legalize marriage for state-sex couples.
O’Malley, Brown, Gansler, and Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett each reiterated their commitment to work hard for the approval by the Maryland Legislature in 2012 of a same-sex marriage bill, Polyak said.
“They were all waxing enthusiastically about how marriage equality has support in Maryland and how they’re going to put the authority of their respective offices behind it,” she said.
A same-sex marriage bill died in the Maryland Legislature earlier this year after it cleared the Senate but was withdrawn from the House of Delegates when backers determined it lacked the votes needed to pass.
Financial problems and disagreements among the board and staff following the marriage bill fight led to the dismissal of Equality Maryland’s executive director and the layoff of nearly all of the group’s staff. Polyak and Wojahn said on Friday, Sept. 9, that stepped up fundraising, a community outreach effort, and a planned expansion of the board has reinvigorated the organization.
According to Polyak, a new, full-time executive director will be hired in late October or early November following a nationwide search. Wojahn said the names of between 10 and 15 new members of the boards of Equality Maryland and the Equality Maryland Foundation would be announced this week.
In a related development, a coalition of groups working with Equality Maryland for the passage of a same-sex marriage bill announced on Sept. 9 that the Baltimore branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People became the newest member of the steering committee of the coalition, Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
“Having the NAACP on board is a welcome addition to the coalition working to win marriage equality in the Free State,” said Sultan Shakir, the campaign manager for Marylanders for Marriage Equality.
“The NAACP’s long history of working for equality and fairness for all will be instrumental in harnessing the supportive voices in the African-American community and throughout Maryland,” said Shakir, who also serves as a field organizer for the Human Rights Campaign.
“We believe gay and lesbian couples have the same values as everyone else,” said Tessa Hill-Alston, president of the NAACP’s Baltimore branch. “They want to make a lifetime commitment to the person they love and build a loving stable family. So it is only right that committed gay and lesbian couples be given the opportunity to marry as everyone else.”
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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)
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