Arts & Entertainment
Queery: Dr. Robin Halprin-Hawkins
The local lesbian psychologist answers 20 gay questions

Robin Halprin-Hawkins, a clinical psychologist with the D.C. Department of Mental Health, was in interesting places at key times when it comes to LGBT history.
In 1969 at age 16, she was within a half block of the Stonewall Riots but because she was underage, she didn’t go any closer once she and friends realized police were on the scene. Her years living in New York’s West Village and on Fire Island in the late ‘60s gave her a front row seat to that turbulent time.
And she saw her first patient with “GRID” (an early term for HIV before it was identified) at Crownsville Hospital Center in 1982, an incident that sparked her continual commitment to HIV and AIDS work since then. She was a volunteer therapist with the People Living With HIV/AIDS program at Whitman-Walker Clinic from 1986 to 2008 and she and spouse Pat Hawkins have presented research on HIV/AIDS caregiver burnout at the American Psychological Association Convention. She’s now a volunteer with the D.C. Community AIDS Network.
The 60-year-old New Brunswick, N.J., native, is passionate about her work, LGBT rights and the pets she’s cared for and lost.
Halprin-Hawkins lived in New York for her first two years of college, then transferred to Massachusetts to finish. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. in clinical psychology at American University in D.C. She and Hawkins live in Waldorf, Md., and own getaway spots along the Potomac River in Marshall Hall, Md., and also a cottage in West Virginia.
She’s a voracious reader and enjoys photography, travel, learning foreign languages and her cats in her free time.
How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?
Forty-eight years, since I was 12. No one was hard to tell, but not everyone reacted well. I told my very liberal Democrat father, who worked in communications, produced plays and concerts in the county parks and knew and introduced me to lots of gay people, when I was 16. He put me in therapy to make it go away. It didn’t work.
Who’s your LGBT hero?
Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon. Sappho. All the LGBT people I knew in New York City in the late ‘60s, who were living lives of integrity. Rachel Maddow.
What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?
Annie’s, hands down.
Describe your dream wedding.
We actually had two — in Ontario in 2003, I was fit to bust. I ran around telling everybody we were “just married,” including cab drivers and hotel clerks. When Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in 2004, we did it again, to make it legal in the U.S. on the bowsprit of a whale boat in Provincetown Harbor.
What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?
Universal health care including complete parity for behavioral health. Feral cat rescue and TNR (trap-neuter-release).
What historical outcome would you change?
Other than the leap of HIV/AIDS from apes to humans, with its tragic physical and emotional consequences for countless millions of people, particularly our gay brothers? The 2000 presidential election that Bush 2 stole from Gore.
What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?
Women’s music — Willie Tyson, Meg Christian, Chris Williamson and my good friend and former partner Adrienne Torf — which was birthed in D.C. just before I came here for graduate school.
On what do you insist?
I’m from New York — are you kidding? Everything! In terms of everyday, little stuff like being called “Dr.” I also always insist on “sexual orientation” rather than “preference.” To me, it’s like eye color, handedness or race: it’s a characteristic I was born with, not a “lifestyle” I choose or not.
What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?
A vehement argument with my neurosurgeon classmate from Rutgers Preparatory School about the Affordable Care Act. A viral video of a swimming cat. My favorite recent FB post was my happy birthday wishes to Pat, the “bestest of spouses.”
If your life were a book, what would the title be?
“Vincero!” (I will prevail.) I am a breast cancer survivor. As an LGBT individual, I am a member of a discriminated-against minority. I am a person affected by HIV/AIDS. I am a soldier in these fights, and we will win!
If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?
Absolutely nothing. I love my life.
What do you believe in beyond the physical world?
I can’t believe that this is all there is. Eternal love is the only thing that makes any sense.
What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?
Fight hard and relentlessly for federal recognition of marriage equality with all the responsibilities and rights, such as survivor Social Security and pension benefits.
What would you walk across hot coals for?
My spouse and my cats. Human rights.
What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?
That someone has to be “the man” in a lesbian relationship. If I wanted a man, I’d have one.
What’s your favorite LGBT movie?
“Desert Hearts” and “Longtime Companion.”
What’s the most overrated social custom?
Dressing up to travel. Anything more than “smart casual” is ridiculous on trains and planes. Comfort is what’s important.
What trophy or prize do you most covet?
I got mine — my spouse, Dr. Pat Hawkins. Though I would also like to be fellowed by the American Psychological Association’s LGBT Division 44.
What do you wish you’d known at 18?
That no matter how hard you try, there may be some things you will never be or have, but if you don’t bust your ass, you have no shot at any of them.
Why Washington?
While in graduate school at The American University, I fell into “forever love” (Pat and I have been together more than 30 years now, married for nine), and she would never leave Washington, because of her fervent commitment to make things happen in health care, especially in HIV/AIDS.
Books
A boy-meets-boy, family-mess story with heat
New book offers a stunning, satisfying love story

‘When the Harvest Comes’
By Denne Michele Norris
c.2025, Random House
$28/304 pages
Happy is the bride the sun shines on.
Of all the clichés that exist about weddings, that’s the one that seems to make you smile the most. Just invoking good weather and bright sunshine feels like a cosmic blessing on the newlyweds and their future. It’s a happy omen for bride and groom or, as in the new book “When the Harvest Comes” by Denne Michele Norris, for groom and groom.

Davis Freeman never thought he could love or be loved like this.
He was wildly, wholeheartedly, mind-and-soul smitten with Everett Caldwell, and life was everything that Davis ever wanted. He was a successful symphony musician in New York. They had an apartment they enjoyed and friends they cherished. Now it was their wedding day, a day Davis had planned with the man he adored, the details almost down to the stitches in their attire. He’d even purchased a gorgeous wedding gown that he’d never risk wearing.
He knew that Everett’s family loved him a lot, but Davis didn’t dare tickle the fates with a white dress on their big day. Everett’s dad, just like Davis’s own father, had considerable reservations about his son marrying another man – although Everett’s father seemed to have come to terms with his son’s bisexuality. Davis’s father, whom Davis called the Reverend, never would. Years ago, father and son had a falling-out that destroyed any chance of peace between Davis and his dad; in fact, the door slammed shut to any reconciliation.
But Davis tried not to think about that. Not on his wedding day. Not, unbeknownst to him, as the Reverend was rushing toward the wedding venue, uninvited but not unrepentant. Not when there was an accident and the Reverend was killed, miles away and during the nuptials.
Davis didn’t know that, of course, as he was marrying the love of his life. Neither did Everett, who had familial problems of his own, including homophobic family members who tried (but failed) to pretend otherwise.
Happy is the groom the sun shines on. But when the storm comes, it can be impossible to remain sunny.
What can be said about “When the Harvest Comes?” It’s a romance with a bit of ghost-pepper-like heat that’s not there for the mere sake of titillation. It’s filled with drama, intrigue, hate, characters you want to just slap, and some in bad need of a hug.
In short, this book is quite stunning.
Author Denne Michele Norris offers a love story that’s everything you want in this genre, including partners you genuinely want to get to know, in situations that are real. This is done by putting readers inside the characters’ minds, letting Davis and Everett themselves explain why they acted as they did, mistakes and all. Don’t be surprised if you have to read the last few pages twice to best enjoy how things end. You won’t be sorry.
If you want a complicated, boy-meets-boy, family-mess kind of book with occasional heat, “When the Harvest Comes” is your book. Truly, this novel shines.
The Blade may receive commissions from qualifying purchases made via this post.

The Victory Fund held its National Champagne Brunch at the Ritz-Carlton on Sunday, April 27. Speakers included Tim Gunn, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Gov. Wes Moore (D-Md.), Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.), Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) and Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.).
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

















Music & Concerts
Tom Goss returns with ‘Bear Friends Furever Tour’
Out singer/songwriter to perform at Red Bear Brewing Co.

Singer Tom Goss will bring his “Bear Friends Furever Tour” to D.C. on Sunday, June 8 at 8 p.m. at Red Bear Brewing Co.
Among the songs he will perform will be “Bear Soup,” the fourth installment in his beloved bear song anthology series. Following fan favorites like “Bears,” “Round in All the Right Places,” and “Nerdy Bear,” this high-energy, bass-thumping banger celebrates body positivity, joyful indulgence, and the vibrant spirit of the bear subculture.
For more details, visit Tom Goss’s website.
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