Local
SMYAL honors Katie O’Malley at Fall Brunch
Event at Mandarin Oriental raised $122,000
Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley (Washington Blade photo by Jonathan Ellis)
The Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League (SMYAL) on Sunday honored Maryland First Lady Katie O’Malley for her efforts to combat bullying.
“It just breaks my heart when I hear the Tyler Clementi stories or young kids being [picked on] and called horrible things just because of who they are and what they choose to do,” said O’Malley during SMYAL’s annual Fall Brunch at the Mandarin Oriental in Southwest Washington. “It’s very, very troubling, so in Maryland we have been able to pass some pretty strong anti-bullying laws. But as I always tell kids when I go to schools you know you can have laws on the book, but it’s really about our culture.”
O’Malley, who is a judge on the Baltimore City Circuit Court, has appeared in an “It Gets Better” video for the Trevor Project. She has worked with Facebook and Time Warner to promote National Bullying Prevention Month. O’Malley also spoke at the U.S. Department of Education’s third annual Bullying Prevention Summit that took place in D.C. in August.
“You don’t have to be everybody’s friend, but you can look out for each other and you can be kind and we can try to promote that in our culture as best as we can,” she said. “I think it really goes a long way.”
“We’re so hopeful that in just 40-some days we’re going to be able to pass the marriage equality referendum,” she said.
SMYAL has worked with thousands of LGBT and questioning youth in the metropolitan area since a group of local activists founded the organization in 1984 in response to reports that young male D.C. public school students who acted “too effeminate” were incarcerated in St. Elizabeth’s Psychiatric Hospital.
Staffers and clients earlier this year testified in support of the city’s anti-bullying bill that Mayor Vincent Gray signed into law in June. SMYAL members in May joined Cyndi Lauper on Capitol Hill to raise awareness of homelessness among LGBT youth.
Andrew Barnett, the group’s executive director, noted that the new strategic plan that SMYAL adopted in March allows it to identify what he described as key issues facing LGBT youth and how the organization can most effectively respond to them.
“A really big piece of our strategic plan is knowing that there are hundreds, if not thousands of LGBTQ youth across this region, many of whom right now have no safe space. They have no support,” he said. “So a big piece of our strategic plan as we look to SMYAL’s future is to find ways for us to bring our programming to them. Finding ways for us to bring what we do at our youth center on Capitol Hill out into suburban Maryland and into Virginia, where we know there’s a huge, huge unmet need.”
NBC4 news anchor Wendy Rieger (Washington Blade photo by Jonathan Ellis)
NBC4 news anchor Wendy Rieger, who emceed the brunch that raised $122,000 for SMYAL, discussed how her 16-year-old niece recently texted a lesbian friend struggling to come out to her parents information about the organization.
“She said, ‘thank you so much, this is exactly what I’m looking for,’” recalled Rieger. “When you are in need of something, whether you find wildlife on the road and you don’t want this poor creature to suffer or whether a relative tells you this story and you’re thinking there’s someone whose confused out there, you want to be able to call someone. You want to be able to call someone. And that’s what SMYAL does. They’re there.”
SMYAL intern Tatiana Newman, who began attending the Women’s Leadership Institute’s meetings in February, agreed.
“When I found SMYAL I found safety, community and inspiration,” she said. “Being a lesbian in 2012 doesn’t mean I have a particularly easy live, but it’s one of change — change that SMYAL allows me to be a very proactive part of.”
SMYAL board member Cheryl S. Clarke discussed how the organization helped her after her oldest son Michael came out to her at the start of his senior year of college.
“I knew I needed to learn more about his community. I knew I wanted to be supportive of my son. I knew I wanted to educate myself to be in touch with resources that I needed to expand my repertoire,” she said, noting she reached out to current SMYAL Board Vice Chair Mike Schwartz for help. “’I said, Mike I need some help. I want to continue to be the best mother I can, but I want to now understand how to be an African American mother of an African American gay man.”
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at [email protected].
Congratulations to Paul Marengo who has been appointed the new executive director of the Equality Chamber of Commerce.
The Equality Chamber of Commerce is dedicated to advancing economic opportunities, business growth, and advocacy for LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs, professionals, and allies. Through networking, education, and community engagement, the Chamber works to create a thriving and inclusive business environment for all.
On behalf of the Chamber, Edmund Morris said, “We are thrilled to welcome Paul Marengo as executive director. His passion, vision, and dedication to fostering inclusive business environments make him the ideal leader to guide the Chamber into its next phase of growth and success.”
Marengo has been a nonprofit fundraising executive for more than 30 years. He is the founder and CEO of Promethean Fundraising, a grassroots consulting firm that provides assistance, tools, and empowers emerging nonprofits to become competitive fundraisers. His clients have included The Chamber, Ragtag Film Society, and The Cherry Fund. He has served as a grant reviewer for the Maryland State Arts Commission, Virginia Commission for the Arts, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
District of Columbia
Nearly 6,000 turn out for Pride Night Out at the Nationals
Gay Men’s Chorus sings National Anthem
“Just shy of” 6,000 people purchased tickets for the Wednesday, June 24, 21st annual Pride Night Out at the Washington Nationals baseball stadium, which the Nationals said is the longest running LGBTQ Pride event in Major League Baseball, according to a Nationals spokesperson.
The event was organized with the Nationals by Team D.C., the local LGBTQ sports group that organizes similar Pride Nights for other professional D.C. area sports teams.
“It was a good time had by all as the Nationals celebrated the LGBTQ+ community during the Nationals 21st Pride Night Out, presented by Team D.C.” the Nationals said in a statement.
Nationals spokesperson Erica George said the overall game attendance was 27,200.
Similar to recent past years, the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington sung the National Anthem at the start of the game, drawing loud cheers from people throughout the stadium.
The Nationals lost the game to the Philadelphia Phillies by a score of 5-4. Although most of the LGBTQ attendees of the event, held in the right-field mezzanine section of the stadium, were cheering for the Nationals, a sizeable number also cheered for the Phillies.
Miguel Ayala, one of Team D.C.’s lead organizers, said he noticed fans displaying Pride flags and recognized LGBTQ people in all parts of the stadium, indicating significantly more LGBTQ people and their supporters attended the game beyond the close to 6,000 or more who purchased the specific Pride Night Out tickets.
“It was a great excitement last night,” he told the Washington Blade on the day following the event. “I saw a lot of big crowds of our people, I saw everybody I can think of in the community. And it was really great to see the turnout.”
Also, like in previous years, Team D.C. along with the Nationals helped to organize a pre-game show on the large concourse platform area next to the stadium seating area involving a drag show led by local drag performer Shi-Queeta Lee.
“During pregame ceremonies, the Nationals Pride employee resource group was recognized on the field,” the statement released by the Nationals says. “Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, a physician and public health leader who has had a profound impact on the LGBTQ+ community and those living with or vulnerable to HIV, threw out the ceremonial first pitch as the guest of Team D.C.,” the statement says.
It adds that Team D.C.’s scholarship recipient Spencer Doll made the ceremonial call to “Play Ball.”
As if all that were not enough, a Nationals employee who entertains during the Nationals pre-game shows on the field dressed as a giant eagle named “Screech” wearing an eagle’s head mask appeared in the seating area where the Pride Night Out crowd was seated and mingled with the LGBTQ fans, many of whom posed for photos with Screech.
District of Columbia
Washington Blade names new publisher
Longtime ad exec Brian Pitts to assume role from Lynne Brown
The Washington Blade announced this week that its longtime publisher, Lynne Brown, who has worked at the publication for nearly 40 years, is retiring from her day-to-day duties.
Blade co-owner and longtime advertising executive Brian Pitts will assume the role of publisher effective June 26.
Pitts, 46, is a native of Fredericksburg, Va. In 2004, he moved to Washington, D.C., from Rehoboth Beach, Del., to work at the Blade as a 24-year-old sales executive. Pitts, along with Brown and Blade Editor Kevin Naff have owned the Blade since 2009. Pitts has served as the Blade’s lead sales executive since then.
“We’ve been through a lot over the last 17 years, including a recession and a pandemic,” said Pitts. “Lynne has been a steady hand throughout and I’m excited to take the reins and help steer the Blade into its next chapter.”
Brown will assume the title of publisher emerita and remain a part owner of the Washington Blade and Los Angeles Blade and contribute to the business via special projects.
As for what’s next, she said, “I will take the summer to regroup. I have one more LGBTQ community project in mind, and a few personal goals to check off the list. I am a Washingtonian. I will continue to live, work, and love here in D.C. Of course every Friday morning, I will grab a cup of coffee and read the Blade.”
Asked what advice she has for Pitts as he takes over the publisher’s job, Brown replied, “Brian is going to be great. He has all the skills needed to run this business. He also has a deep, silent passion for the Blade. My only advice: Slow and steady wins the race.”
Pitts said his primary goal as publisher is to ensure the Blade continues its mission as America’s LGBTQ news source.
“Another goal is to reach a younger audience and to include an educational component,” he added. “Some younger community members may be newer to the Blade and less familiar with LGBTQ history. Recently, we published a special commemorative magazine to coincide with America 250, chronicling LGBTQ history and contributions to U.S. culture. It’s so important not to let our history get erased and to remember where we came from and to work toward where we want to go.”
He described the biggest challenge to queer media as the Trump administration’s attacks on DEI.
“We have companies that have advertised with us for years who are now afraid of the potential consequences,” he said.
Brown joined the Blade in 1987. She was named publisher in 2007 by previous owner Window Media. In 2009, Window Media filed for bankruptcy; shortly after, Brown, Naff, and Pitts acquired the Blade’s assets from the bankruptcy court and relaunched the brand with Brown as publisher.
She said the period after the bankruptcy became her biggest challenge as publisher.
“The crisis that birthed Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia kept me overly focused on millions of details,” she recalls. “My greatest personal challenge was delegating and letting go of details. Trusting staff with their strengths and skills to do their jobs was slow to come. It has proved to be most rewarding. Building the right team — knowing the people you work with are committed, professional, and honest — is a great thing.”
Pitts described the bankruptcy and rebirth of the Blade in 2009 as his proudest moment with the company.
“Working at the paper has been great, but becoming a co-owner was a dream come true,” he said.
Naff praised both of his colleagues.
“Lynne has been a rock, helping us navigate financial crises and a pandemic. The Blade wouldn’t have survived without her dedication,” he said. “She is the publisher every editor would want. Brian has terrific instincts, a passion for the Blade’s important mission, and an eye on growth. I am proud to call both of them friends and mentors and look forward to the next chapter.”
Asked why LGBTQ media are still relevant, Brown cited the recent erosion of queer rights as evidence that the Blade’s work remains important.
“The Blade helps fight invisibility and isolation,” she said. “We may have rights today, but we have seen rights eroded or erased. The Blade reports on those rights authentically and accurately and serves as a communication tool and a historian for the community.”
Pitts added, “While mainstream media may cover LGBTQ+ issues, no one covers them quite like us. These are our community’s stories and voices and this is your news source.”
The Blade will host a happy hour event later this summer where the community can meet Pitts and thank Brown for her decades of service.
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