News
IOC president: Olympic values oppose discrimination
Thomas Bach made comments before lighting of Olympic torch in Greece
Members of All Out and Athlete Ally on August 7 presented a petition with more than 300,000 signatures to the International Olympic Committee that urges it to pressure Russia to end its gay crackdown. (Photo courtesy of All Out)
“The flame lit today by the Greek sun takes on this responsibility for a peaceful celebration here and now; the torches will carry it into the Olympic future,” Bach said in a speech he delivered before the lighting of the Olympic flame in Ancient Olympia, Greece. “Thus the Olympic Torch Relay will be a messenger for the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect without any form of discrimination.”
Russian National Olympic Committee President Vitaly Smirnov, 2014 Winter Olympics Organizing Committee CEO Dmitry Chernyshenko and Sochi Mayor Anatoly Pakhomov are among those who attended the ceremony. The torch will travel across Russia before it arrives in Sochi for the start of the games on February 7.
“The Olympic message sees the global diversity of cultures, societies and life choices as a source of enrichment,” Bach said. “It accuses no one and it excludes no one. But it does require us all to defend and uphold the Olympic values in all the sports competitions; among all those taking part and at all the Olympic venues.”
“Only then can we use our positive message of tolerance and respect through fair play in sport to set an example for the harmonious development of humanity,” he added.
Bach’s comments come against the backdrop of growing outrage over Russia’s LGBT rights record that threatens to overshadow the Sochi games.
Actor and playwright Harvey Fierstein is among those who have called for a boycott of the Olympics. Author Dan Savage, Cleve Jones and other LGBT rights advocates have called for a boycott of Russian vodka.
Members of Queer Nation NY on September 23 interrupted the Metropolitan Opera’s opening night gala to protest Russian President Vladimir Putin and his government’s LGBT rights record that includes a law that bans gay propaganda to minors. They also targeted soprano Anna Netrebko and conductor Valery Gergiev for supporting Putin.
LGBT rights advocates in the U.S. and around the world last week expressed outrage over IOC Coordination Commission Chair Jean-Claude Killy’s comments over Russia’s gay propaganda law.
The Associated Press initially reported that Killy said during a Sochi press conference the IOC is “fully satisfied” the statute does not violate the Olympic Charter. An IOC spokesperson later told the Washington Blade that Killy said “as long as the Olympic Charter is respected, we are satisfied.”
“That is clearly not expressing any view on the law itself,” the Olympic body said. “Mr. Killy made it abundantly clear that the IOC never comments on national legislation.”
The Human Rights Campaign and COC Nederland, a Dutch LGBT advocacy group, are among the organizations that blasted Killy and the IOC.
Spanish IOC member Juan Antonio Samaranch Salisachs last week acknowledged during an interview with the news agency EFE that he shares LGBT advocates’ concerns over Russia’s gay propaganda law. He stressed, however, the Olympic body does not comment on any specific statute in a host country.
“The Olympic Charter is against any type of discrimination, and this includes without a doubt sexual orientation,” Samaranch told EFE. “I understand and share how the gay community may be concerned, but it is too harsh to ask us as the IOC to try and modify the laws of a country.”
Photos
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Gay Men’s Chorus, local drag artists have featured performance at ceremony
The 41st Helen Hayes Awards were held at The Anthem on Monday, May 19. Felicia Curry and Mike Millan served as the hosts.
A performance featuring members of the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington and local drag artists was held at the end of the first act of the program to celebrate WorldPride 2025.
The annual awards ceremony honors achievement in D.C.-area theater productions and is produced by Theatre Washington.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
District of Columbia
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
Three LGBTQ icons to lead parade
WorldPride organizers announced Thursday that actress and trans activist Laverne Cox, powerhouse performer Reneé Rapp, and LGBTQ trailblazer Deacon Maccubbin will serve as grand marshals for this year’s WorldPride parade.
The Capital Pride Alliance, which is organizing WorldPride 2025 in Washington, D.C., revealed the honorees in a press release, noting that each has made a unique contribution to the fabric of the LGBTQ community.
Cox made history in 2014 as the first openly transgender person nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in an acting category for her role in Netflix’s “Orange Is the New Black.” She went on to win a Daytime Emmy in 2015 for her documentary “Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word,” which followed seven young trans people as they navigated coming out.
Rapp, a singer and actress who identifies as a lesbian, rose to prominence as Regina George in the Broadway musical “Mean Girls.” She reprised the role in the 2024 film adaptation and also stars in Max’s “The Sex Lives of College Girls,” portraying a character coming to terms with her sexuality. Rapp has released an EP, “Everything to Everyone,” and an album, “Snow Angel.” She announced her sophomore album, “Bite Me,” on May 21 and is slated to perform at the WorldPride Music Festival at the RFK Festival Grounds.
Deacon Maccubbin, widely regarded as a cornerstone of Washington’s LGBTQ+ history, helped organize D.C.’s first Gay Pride Party in 1975. The event took place outside Lambda Rising, one of the first LGBTQ bookstores in the nation, which Maccubbin founded. For his decades of advocacy and activism, he is often referred to as “the patriarch of D.C. Pride.”
“I am so honored to serve as one of the grand marshals for WorldPride this year. This has been one of the most difficult times in recent history for queer and trans people globally,” Cox said. “But in the face of all the rhetorical, legislative and physical attacks, we continue to have the courage to embrace who we truly are, to celebrate our beauty, resilience and bravery as a community. We refuse to allow fear to keep us from ourselves and each other. We remain out loud and proud.”
“Pride is everything. It is protection, it is visibility, it is intersectional. But most importantly, it is a celebration of existence and protest,” Rapp said.
The three will march down 14th Street for the WorldPride Parade in Washington on June 7.
Congress
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
‘Big Beautiful Bill’ now heads to the Senate
The Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday voted 215-214 for passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” reconciliation package, which includes provisions that would prohibit the use of federal funds to support gender-affirming care.
But for an 11th hour revision of the bill late Wednesday night by conservative lawmakers, Medicaid and CHIP would have been restricted only from covering treatments and interventions administered to patients younger than 18.
The legislation would also drop requirements that some health insurers must cover gender-affirming care as an “essential health benefit” and force states that currently mandate such coverage to find it independently. Plans could still offer coverage for transgender care but without the EHB classification patients will likely pay higher out of pocket costs.
To offset the cost of extending tax cuts from 2017 that disproportionately benefited the wealthiest Americans, the reconciliation bill contains significant cuts to spending for federal programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
The Human Rights Campaign criticized House Republicans in a press release and statement by the group’s president, Kelley Robinson:
“People in this country want policies and solutions that make life better and expand access to the American Dream. Instead, anti-equality lawmakers voted to give handouts to billionaires built on the backs of hardworking people — with devastating consequences for the LGBTQ+ community.
“If the cuts to programs like Medicaid and SNAP or resources like Planned Parenthood clinics weren’t devastating enough, House Republicans added a last minute provision that expands its attacks on access to best practice health care to transgender adults.
“This cruel addition shows their priorities have never been about lowering costs or expanding health care access–but in targeting people simply for who they are. These lawmakers have abandoned their constituents, and as they head back to their districts, know this: they will hear from us.”
Senate Republicans are expected to pass the bill with the budget reconciliation process, which would allow them to bypass the filibuster and clear the spending package with a simple majority vote.
Changes are expected as the bill will be reviewed and amended by committees, particularly the Finance Committee, and then brought to the floor for debate — though modifications are expected to focus on Medicaid reductions and debate over state and local tax deductions.
PHOTOS: Helen Hayes Awards
Laverne Cox, Reneé Rapp, Deacon Maccubbin named WorldPride grand marshals
House passes reconciliation with gender-affirming care funding ban
PHOTOS: D.C. Trans Pride
Men convicted of murdering two men in NYC gay bar drugging scheme sentenced
Looking back at 50 years of Pride in D.C
WorldPride events round-up
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