Arts & Entertainment
Queery: Dan Roth
The new Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Community Association president answers 20 gay questions

Dan Roth has only been in the area since December but already he’s president — sworn in last week — of the Alexandria Gay and Lesbian Community Association (aglca.org).
He says the group does great work and being involved is a natural outgrowth of his LGBT activism in his native Sacramento, Calif.
“I like the fact that it’s very focused on community and is very pragmatic,” he says. “They’re doing necessary work on the ground to improve the lives of the LGBT community here and also working to educate the community as a whole. It’s been around for 30 years and has a proven track record. Alexandria is as progressive as the state of Virginia will allow … a lot of that is because of the work the AGLCA has done.”
Roth works by day as communication director for the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee. In California he worked for an environmental non-profit and was chief of staff for an elected official there prior to that. He met his partner, Jesse Wuertz, while visiting Washington in 2010 and after two years of cross-country dating, decided to move east. They live together in Alexandria’s Del Ray neighborhood.
“I love it here so far,” he says. “I’m a big history buff, so it’s amazing seeing all these things I’ve read about and to be here where things are taking place. It’s really an international city with fascinating people.”
Roth spent a year in France after high school and went to college in Oregon but has lived most of his life in or near Sacramento. He enjoys cooking, writing and traveling in his free time. (Blade photo by Michael Key)
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
Fourteen years and my parents were the hardest people to tell.
Who’s your LGBT hero?
Rachel Maddow. Every night people get to see an intelligent and passionate lesbian who has achieved her dream. She is a constant reminder to young people that you can be LGBT and be successful.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
Secrets/Ziegfeld’s
Describe your dream wedding.
An elegant affair. The ceremony would take place in an intimate church or chapel with family and close friends, followed by an amazing dinner and drinking good wine late into the night.
What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?
I had a stutter as a child, which led to a deep fear of public speaking. In high school a teacher forced me to join the speech and debate team and it enabled me to discover my voice. I want to see as many students as possible participate in this program so they can learn to think, research, form an opinion and use the art of persuasion to change minds.
What historical outcome would you change?
In 2000 I would have redrawn the presidential ballot in Palm Beach County and fought to make sure the people whose names were close to convicted felons would have been allowed to legally vote in the presidential election. The “election” of George W. Bush as president of the United States set the country back several decades on many levels.
What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?
When the brief flash of Janet Jackson’s nipple at the Super Bowl caused the entire country to come to a standstill for a week.
On what do you insist?
Sending a hand-written thank you note after receiving a gift or being hosted for a meal.
What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?
I tweeted about Secretary Arne Duncan coming out in support of equal marriage rights for gay and lesbian couples.
If your life were a book, what would the title be?
“The Road Less Traveled”
If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?
Toast all the new fabulous gays with a cosmo.
What do you believe in beyond the physical world?
I believe in a God that is greater than which I know not what.
What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?
Be patient, authentic and pragmatic. This is a movement that will not take place by a person giving a speech in front of thousands of people but with millions of people having billions of conversations. It will take time, but we are successful and will be in the end.
What would you walk across hot coals for?
My partner’s homemade cookies.
What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?
That you cannot be both gay and have a belief in God. As an elder in my church and as someone who actually reads the Bible, I find the message to be one of a challenge to be strong enough to love and not fall into homophobia and discrimination.
What’s your favorite LGBT movie?
“Broken Heart’s Club”
What’s the most overrated social custom?
That you should not take the last cookie on the plate. If the dessert was good, go for it.
What trophy or prize do you most covet?
Olympic medal, although at this point it will probably be in curling.
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
I wish I had known that patience and gratitude pay huge dividends in the long run.
Why Washington?
I have worked in politics since graduating from college, so I have been drawn to move here for a long time. When I met my partner here in 2010, all the stars aligned for me to take the leap (and make the drive) to the Washington area.
Movies
‘Pee-wee’ spills the tea in outstanding new documentary
Reubens’s sexuality emerges as the show’s focus

Most of us who have lived long enough to get nostalgic for our formative years have, by now, watched enough documentaries about a beloved entertainment icon from our past to know what to expect when a new one comes along.
Such offerings are typically slick biographical portraits blending archival material with newly filmed “talking head” reminiscences and commentaries, and perhaps punctuated by eye-catching animations or other flourishes to add an extra layer of visual interest; heavy on the nostalgia and mostly reverent in tone, they satisfy us with pleasant memories, supplement our knowledge with behind-the-history insights and revelations, and leave us – ideally – with a renewed appreciation and a reinforced feeling of comfortable familiarity. Many of them are little more than retrospectives, more glossy tribute than in-depth profile; occasionally, a few go beyond the surface to give us a deeper sense of personal connection with their subject – but rarely enough, even in the best of them, to make us feel as if we know them well.
No matter how many of these docs you have seen, however, or jaded your expectations may be when you approach it, “Pee-wee as Himself” is still going to surprise you.
Directed by filmmaker Matt Wolf, the two-part HBO docuseries – which premiered May 23 and is now streaming on Max – is built around material culled from 40 hours of interview footage with the late Paul Reubens (the creator and performer behind nerdy, manic cultural phenomenon and children’s show host “Pee-wee Herman,” for anyone that needs to be told), and conducts a “guided tour” of Reubens’ singular career in the limelight. The first installment traces a path from his Florida childhood through his early adventures as an actor and performance artist in Los Angeles to his rapid rise to fame through the popularity of his carefully crafted alter-ego; part two continues the story to explore the expansion of his fame through the phenomenon of “Pee-wee’s Playhouse,” but soon shifts gears to cover his sudden fall from grace after a notorious “public indecency” arrest in an adult theater, and the subsequent accusations of collecting “child pornography” that unfairly branded him as a pedophile in the public eye — and comes full circle to document his return to favor as an underdog hero for the generation that had grown up watching him.
Besides its detailed chronicle of these already-well-known chapters in Reubens’ life, however, Wolf’s doc (and Reubens, via frequent full-frame close-up commentary throughout) delves into publicly uncharted territory to give us a look at something we’ve never been allowed to see before: Paul Reubens himself.
That includes, of course, removing any ambiguity that might remain about the sexuality of the man behind the bow tie, who never publicly identified as gay before his death from cancer in 2023. It’s not so much a “coming out” — after all, he artfully teased his queerness to fans for years — as it is a dropping of pretense. There’s no need for a definitive statement announcing something that everybody already knew, anyway.
That’s not to say he skirts the issue as he delivers his full-frame close-up testimonial to the camera; on the contrary, he reflects often and with bittersweet candor about the carefully-managed matter of his sexuality – or the public’s perception of it, at any rate – with the matter-of-fact eloquence of someone who’s spent a lot of time thinking about it. He openly discusses his choice to keep the closet door closed on his personal life in order to preserve Pee-wee’s ambiguously wholesome yet irresistibly subversive persona in the public’s imagination, and to abandon his openly queer life (as well as a loving long term relationship, one of the series’ biggest “reveals”) to do so.”I was as out as you could be,” he reflects with rueful irony, “and then I went back in.”
Indeed, it’s Reubens’s sexuality that ultimately emerges as the show’s core focus — even more than the rich treasure trove of personal photos, home movies, behind-the-scenes footage, and all the other fan-thrilling delights it provides — and gives it a larger significance, perhaps than even the man himself. It’s a thread that runs through his story, impacting his choices and the trajectory of his career, and reflecting the familiar shared experience of many audience members who may be able to relate; later, it manifests on a societal level, as Wolf and his subject explore the homophobic attitudes behind the legal persecution that would bring his rising star into a tailspin and hang over his reputation for the rest of his life. It serves as both a reminder of the power of cultural bigotry to repress queerness and a cautionary tale about the personal cost of repressing oneself.
A good number of Reubens’ longtime friends (like Cassandra Petersen, aka “Elvira, Mistress of the Dark,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” costar David Arquette, and former “girlfriend” Debi Mazar, who provided support, acceptance, and companionship in the wake of his legal troubles), come along for the ride, offering their own reminiscences and insights into official record, as well as lesser-known members of an inner circle that comprised the late artist’s chosen family. Yet all these testimonials, authentic as they may be, are not what enable “Pee-wee as Himself” to bring us closer to the real Paul Reubens. It’s Reubens himself who does that.
Maintaining an ambiguously hostile edge in his interviews, bringing to light a clash for control between himself and director Wolf with as much clarity as he illuminates the vast archival material that is shown to document his career, he demonstrates firsthand the need to manage his own narrative, balking, even openly resisting, certain questions and interpretations that arise throughout. It gives the real Reubens the same vague menace with which Pee-wee was also infused — and also creates a sort of meta-narrative, in which the conflict between subject and director must also be resolved before the story can truly achieve closure, calling into question whether Reubens (a veteran of avant-garde theater and lifelong fan of the circus) might not be adding yet another layer of mystery and performance to his image even as he gets honest publicly for the very first time.
That closure eventually comes in the form of a voice recording made by Reubens the day before his death — after a six year battle with lung cancer (he was a heavy smoker, another personal detail he painstakingly hid from the public) which, save for those in his innermost circle, he never revealed until the end — in which he delivers a final message to the world. With it, he finally accomplishes what he never could during his life, and lets us see, at last, who he was when he wasn’t being Pee-wee.
And it’s a beautiful thing.

The Opening Reception for the 34th annual D.C. Black Pride was held at the Capital Hilton on Friday, May 23. Presenters, speakers and entertainers included Ts Madison, Monroe Alise, Billy the Goat, Kerri Colby, Apple Brown Betty, Heather Mahogani, Lyrical Mar, Lolita Leopard, Ink, and Bang Garçon. Anthony Oakes was the host.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)





















The 2025 Silver Pride Resource Fair and Tea Dance was held at the Eaton Hotel on Wednesday, May 21.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)










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