About 100 people turned out on Dec. 12 at D.C.’s Eaton Hotel to listen and ask questions to a panel of six LGBTQ rights advocates who discussed the impact on the LGBTQ community of the election last month of Donald Trump as U.S. president and a Republican majority in both houses of the U.S. Congress.

The event, which was hosted by the Washington Blade, was entitled, “Charting Our Future: LGBTQ+ Advocacy & Resilience in a Changing Landscape.”

“There are a lot of complicated issues that are coming for our community in the next four years, ” Washington Blade editor Kevin Naff told the gathering in opening remarks. “And we’re hoping this will be the first in a series of events. So please share your feedback with us,” he said.

The Blade organized the event in partnership with the D.C. LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, HME Consulting & Advocacy, the Eaton Hotel, the D.C. LGBTQ+ Community Center, Capital Pride Alliance, and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. Heidi Ellis, CEO of the LGBTQ+ Budget Coalition, served as moderator.

The panelists, who presented a wide range of views, including optimism and concern over the incoming Trump administration, included: 

• D.C. Council member Zachary Parker (D-Ward 5), the Council’s only openly gay member

• Jordyn White, Vice President of Leadership, Development, and Research for the Human Rights Campaign Foundation

• Remmington Belford, Vice President of the Black Gifted & Whole Foundation, a member of the D.C. Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs Advisory Committee, who serves as press secretary for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

• Tyler Cargill, Outreach and Training Specialist for the D.C. Office of Human Rights

• Preston Mitchum, CEO of PDM Consulting, a D.C.-based “multipurpose Black queer owned and operated consulting firm.”

• Ava Benach, immigration attorney and founding partner of Banach Collopy law firm

• Reginald ‘Reggie’ Greer, Senior Adviser to the U.S. Special Envoy to Advance the Human Rights of LGBTQI+ Persons at the U.S. State Department.

Parker, like most of the panelists, expressed both deep concern and optimism over what may happen in the next four years.

“I will be honest with you,” he said. “We have a Republican president and  Republicans control both chambers of the Congress. And they have said they want to install a level of oversight over the District that will not bode well for the folks in this room but also for the District,” he said.

“I’m concerned about our trans siblings, especially our Black and Brown trans siblings,” Parker said. “The last thing I will say quickly, though, is that we are not hopeless. And in thinking about advocacy and resilience in our title today, that’s what this community is all about. That’s what we’ve always known.”

Troy Masters, publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, died unexpectedly on Wednesday Dec. 11, according to a family member. He was 63. The cause of death was not immediately released.

Masters is a well-respected and award-winning journalist and publisher with decades of experience, mostly in LGBTQ media. He founded Gay City News in New York City in 2002 and relocated to Los Angeles in 2015. In 2017, he became the founding publisher of the Los Angeles Blade, a sister publication of the Washington Blade, the nation’s oldest LGBTQ newspaper.

His family released a statement to the Blade on Thursday. 

“We are shocked and devastated by the loss of Troy,” the statement says. “He was a tireless advocate for the LGBTQ community and leaves a tremendous legacy of fighting for social justice and equality. We ask for your prayers and for privacy as we mourn this unthinkable loss. We will announce details of a celebration of life in the near future.”

The Blade management team released the following statement on Thursday:

“All of us at the Los Angeles Blade and Washington Blade are heartbroken by the loss of our colleague. Troy Masters is a pioneer who championed LGBTQ rights as well as best-in-class journalism for our community. We will miss his passion and his tireless dedication to the Los Angeles queer community.

“We would like to thank the readers, advertisers, and supporters of the Los Angeles Blade, which will continue under the leadership of our local editor Gisselle Palomera, the entire Blade family in D.C. and L.A., and eventually under a new publisher.”

Troy Masters was born April 13, 1961 and is survived by his mother Josie Kirkland and his sister Tammy Masters, along with many friends and colleagues across the country. This is a developing story and will be updated as more details emerge.

The D.C. gay bar Uproar located in the city’s Shaw neighborhood at 639 Florida Ave., N.W., has issued a GoFundMe appeal seeking financial support as it struggles to pay rent and utilities.

The GoFundMe appeal, which was posted by Uproar’s owner Tammy Truong, says its goal is to raise $100,000. As of Dec. 10, the posting says $4,995 had been raised.

“For over nine years Uproar has been an integral part of the D.C. LGBTQIA+ community,” the GoFundMe message says. “It has been a place of refuge for many people and has been a space where people have been allowed to express themselves freely.”

The message adds, “We have recently faced unexpected challenges and are asking for help from the community that we’ve given so much to. We want to be able to continue to pay and support our staff and our community. All donations will be used to pay for these unexpected costs and will be used to improve the space for staff and patrons.”

On its website, Uproar provides further details of the unexpected costs it says it is now faced with.

“Due to significant increases in insurance costs for 2025, we’ve had to deplete our reserves from our summer sales,” the website message says. “As a result, we are now struggling to cover rent and utility costs through the winter.”

The message adds, “Our top priority is to ensure that our amazing staff, who are the heart and soul of Uproar, are fully supported. We are committed to keeping them fully employed and scheduled during this difficult time so they can continue to provide for themselves and  their families.”

Uproar, which caters to a clientele of the city’s leather and bear communities, has faced challenges in the past when the local D.C. Advisory Neighborhood Commission voted to oppose the routine renewal of its liquor license.

In November 2019, ANC 1B voted unanimously to oppose the license renewal of Uproar and 22 other liquor serving establishments in the U Street-Florida Avenue area on grounds that they have a negative impact on “peace, order, and quiet” in the surrounding neighborhoods. The city’s liquor board nevertheless approved the license renewals for Uproar and most of the other establishments.

Local nightlife advocates criticized the ANC’s action, saying it was based on an anti-business and anti-nightlife bias that requires bars such as Uproar to expend large sums of money on retaining lawyers to help them overcome the license opposition.

The Uproar GoFundMe page can be accessed here: