Arts & Entertainment
The new adventures of Lynda Carter
Singer/actress returns to Kennedy Center for latest show
Lynda Carter
‘Body & Soul Tour’
March 30
7:30 p.m.
90 mins.
Kennedy Center
Terrace Theater
$30-65
Actress/singer Lynda Carter returns to the Kennedy Center next weekend. (Photo by Karl Simone; courtesy JS2 Communications)
Lynda Carter has been singing her whole life, but her audiences haven’t always been so receptive.
Carter, who returns to the Kennedy Center next week with her “Body & Soul” show (her most recent album “Crazy Little Things” dropped last spring), says she “of course,” sang to her two children when they were babies. It didn’t last long, though.
“My daughter, as soon as she was old enough to sing herself, she’d put her hand over my mouth,” she says. “She didn’t want to hear me.”
Carter is most famous, of course, for “Wonder Woman,” the ‘70s TV show that despite a relatively short run (three seasons), linked her indelibly with the character — “as lovely as Aphrodite, as wise as Athena!” Last time we talked to Carter when she did the AIDS Walk Washington event for Whitman-Walker Health, we hammered her with “Wonder Woman” questions (it’s here if you missed it), so this time we focused solely on the music. “Crazy Little Things,” a mostly covers album, is her third release. “Portrait” came out in 1978; she returned from a long hiatus with “At Last,” another standards-heavy release that made the Billboard jazz chart in 2009.
“It sounds kind of silly but I remember our little record players and the one new single was all you could afford,” Carter, 60, says between coughs (she’s battling a cold the day we talk). “Now we’ve kinda gone back to that in some ways with all the digital downloads. But we listened to whatever was on the radio. My mom had a lot of blues, old juke joint things. We listened to music all the time.”
Carter was a little too young for the Motown heyday but remembers loving the Beatles and the Stones like everyone else in the later ‘60s.
“When I started singing professionally, I wanted to sound like Linda Ronstadt, Grace Slick, people like that,” she says. “Then on the other side of Linda Ronstadt, you had the Stone Poneys. So you had, well, it kind of shifted away from that ‘50s sound, with Paul Anka and that kind of thing. So even though we listened to that, I kinda missed it a little bit. It wasn’t as much in my mind anyway. It wasn’t as full an experience for me as, you know, the Doors and the Animals. That was my teenybopper era. … And then I was still a young adult when the ‘80s came around, so you end up falling in love with all that too. It’s all that.”
Actress/singer Lynda Carter at the 2010 AIDS Walk Washington, a Whitman-Walker benefit. The Potomac, Md., resident returns to D.C. next weekend for a Kennedy Center performance. (Blade file photo by Michael Key)
Carter, who cut her last album in Nashville for her own imprint Potomac Productions, says she enjoys recording and performing live. It’s still work — she likens making an album to climbing a hill or facing a blank sheet of paper — but says the payoff is rich. She especially enjoys playing the Kennedy Center and says, “it’s really the nation’s stage.”
The longtime Potomac, Md., resident says she and her family “have been going there for years.”
“I sometimes am envious of the people who live in town. It’s such an easy cab ride over to there and they have all kinds of stuff going on all the time … it’s a really special place and there are only a couple rooms like that, like the Jazz at Lincoln Center, that have that kind of prestige in the whole country.”
Carter will perform with six musicians and three singers. She has a horn section, a percussionist and some players who shift instrumentation depending on the song at hand. Most of them also played on the album and are veteran Nashville session players. The album was recorded over the course of about a year off and on. Carter, who co-produced, credits Kyle Lehning with helping her find fresh interpretations on classics like Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” Queen’s “Crazy Little Thing Called Love,” Martha and the Vandella’s “Heat Wave,” the Carole King/Gerry Goffin classic “Locomotion” and others.
Carter says she works hard to make her stage presence connect with audience members. For years, she’s acknowledged and embraced her strong LGBT fan base.
“We seem to be pulling standing ovations every time we play, knock on wood,” she says, pausing for another cough. “I really try to work for the audience. I think a lot of performers kind of put a veil between themselves and it’s like they’re just jamming along with the band and it makes you feel almost like a voyeur and other shows you see it’s like the veil is lifted and the people are really with you. I like to see when people perform and really reach out and it’s really cool. The champion of that, of course, is Mick Jagger. He’s got the all-time stage presence.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Montgomery County Pride in the Plaza
LGBTQ celebration held in downtown Silver Spring
Montgomery County Pride in the Plaza was held on Sunday, June 29 at Veterans Plaza in Silver Spring, Md.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
The fifth annual Fredericksburg Pride march and festival was held on Saturday, June 28. A march through the streets of downtown Fredericksburg, Va. was followed by a festival at Riverfront Park.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
India
Anaya Bangar challenges ban on trans women in female cricket teams
Former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar’s daughter has received support
Anaya Bangar, the daughter of former Indian cricketer Sanjay Bangar, has partnered with the Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport in the U.K. to assess her physiological profile following her gender-affirming surgery and undergoing hormone replacement therapy.
From January to March 2025, the 23-year-old underwent an eight-week research project that measured her glucose levels, oxygen uptake, muscle mass, strength, and endurance after extensive training.
The results, shared via Instagram, revealed her metrics align with those of cisgender female athletes, positioning her as eligible for women’s cricket under current scientific standards. Bangar’s findings challenge the International Cricket Council’s 2023 ban on transgender athletes in women’s cricket, prompting her to call for a science-based dialogue with the Board of Control for Cricket in India and the ICC to reform policies for trans inclusion.
“I am talking with scientific evidence in my hand,” Bangar said in an interview posted to her Instagram page. “So, I hope, this makes an impact and I will be hoping to BCCI and ICC talking with me and discussing this further.”
On Nov. 21, 2023, the ICC enacted a controversial policy barring trans women from international women’s cricket. Finalized after a board meeting in Ahmedabad, India, the regulation prohibits any trans player who has experienced male puberty from competing, irrespective of gender-affirming surgery or hormone therapy. Developed through a 9-month consultation led by the ICC’s Medical Advisory Committee, the rule aims to safeguard the “integrity, safety, and fairness” of women’s cricket but has drawn criticism for excluding athletes like Canada’s Danielle McGahey, the first trans woman to play internationally. The policy, which allows domestic boards to set their own rules, is slated for review by November 2025.
Bangar shared a document on social media verifying her participation in a physiological study at the Manchester Metropolitan University Institute of Sport, conducted from Jan. 20 to March 3, 2025, focused on cricket performance. The report confirmed that her vital metrics — including hemoglobin, blood glucose, peak power, and mean power — aligned with those of cisgender female athletes. Initially, her fasting blood glucose measured 6.1 mmol/L, slightly above the typical non-diabetic range of 4.0–5.9 mmol/L, but subsequent tests showed it normalized, reinforcing the study’s findings that her physical profile meets female athletic standards.
“I am submitting this to the BCCI and ICC, with full transparency and hope,” said Bangar. “My only intention is to start a conversation based on facts not fear. To build space, not divide it.”
In a letter to the BCCI and the ICC, Bangar emphasized her test results from the Manchester Metropolitan University study. She explained that the research aimed to assess how hormone therapy had influenced her strength, stamina, hemoglobin, glucose levels, and overall performance, benchmarked directly against cisgender female athletic standards.
Bangar’s letter to the BCCI and the ICC clarified the Manchester study was not intended as a political statement but as a catalyst for a science-driven dialogue on fairness and inclusion in cricket. She emphasized the importance of prioritizing empirical data over assumptions to shape equitable policies for trans athletes in the sport.
Bangar urged the BCCI, the world’s most influential cricket authority, to initiate a formal dialogue on trans women’s inclusion in women’s cricket, rooted in medical science, performance metrics, and ethical fairness. She called for the exploration of eligibility pathways based on sport-specific criteria, such as hemoglobin thresholds, testosterone suppression timelines, and standardized performance testing. Additionally, she advocated for collaboration with experts, athletes, and legal advisors to develop policies that balance inclusivity with competitive integrity.
“I am releasing my report and story publicly not for sympathy, but for truth. Because inclusion does not mean ignoring fairness, it means measuring it, transparently and responsibly,” said Bangar in a letter to the BCCI. “I would deeply appreciate the opportunity to meet with you or a representative of the BCCI or ICC to present my findings, discuss possible policy pathways, and work towards a future where every athlete is evaluated based on real data, not outdated perceptions.”
Before her transition, Bangar competed for Islam Gymkhana in Mumbai and Hinckley Cricket Club in the U.K., showcasing her talent in domestic cricket circuits. Her father, Sanjay Bangar, was a dependable all-rounder for the Indian national cricket team from 2001 to 2004, playing 12 test matches and 15 One Day Internationals. He later served as a batting coach for the Indian team from 2014 to 2019, contributing to its strategic development.
Cricket in India is a cultural phenomenon, commanding a fanbase of more than 1 billion, with more than 80 percent of global cricket viewership originating from the country.
The International Cricket Council, the sport’s governing body, oversees 12 full member nations and more than 90 associate members, with the U.S. recently gaining associate member status in 2019 and co-hosting the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The BCCI generated approximately $2.25 billion in revenue in the 2023–24 financial year, primarily from the Indian Premier League, bilateral series, and ICC revenue sharing. The ICC earns over $3 billion from media rights in India alone for the 2024–27 cycle, contributing nearly 90 percent of its global media rights revenue, with the BCCI receiving 38.5 percent of the ICC’s annual earnings, approximately $231 million per year.
Women’s cricket in India enjoys a growing fanbase, with over 300 million viewers for the Women’s Premier League in 2024, making it a significant driver of the sport’s global popularity. The International Cricket Council oversees women’s cricket in 12 full member nations and over 90 associate members, with the U.S. fielding a women’s team since gaining associate status in 2019 and competing in ICC events like the 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup qualifiers. The BCCI invests heavily in women’s cricket, allocating approximately $60 million annually to the WPL and domestic programs in 2024–25, while contributing to the ICC’s $20 million budget for women’s cricket development globally. India’s media market for women’s cricket, including WPL broadcasting rights, generated $120 million in 2024, accounting for over 50 percent of the ICC’s women’s cricket media revenue.
“As a woman, I feel when someone says that they are women, then they are, be trans or cis. A trans woman is definitely the same as a cis woman emotionally and in vitals, and specially, when someone is on hormone replacement therapy. Stopping Anaya Bangar from playing is discrimination and violation of her rights. It is really sad and painful that every trans woman need to fight and prove their identity everywhere,” said Indrani Chakraborty, an LGBTQ rights activist and a mother of a trans woman. “If ICC and BCCI is stopping her from playing for being transgender, then I will say this to be their lack of awareness and of course the social mindsets which deny acceptance.”
Chakraborty told the Blade that Bangar is an asset, no matter what. She said that the women’s cricket team will only benefit by participation, but the discriminating policies are the hindrance.
“Actually the transgender community face such discrimination in every sphere. In spite of being potent, they face rejection. This is highly inhuman. These attitudes is regressive and will never let to prosper. Are we really in 2025?,” said Chakraborty. “We, our mindset and the society are the issues. We, as a whole, need to get aware and have to come together for getting justice for Anaya. If today, we remain silent, the entire community will be oppressed. Proper knowledge of gender issues need to be understood.”
The BCCI and the International Cricket Council have not responded to the Blade’s repeated requests for comment.
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