Local
D.C. AIDS Walk raises $600,000
Eleanor Holmes Norton among those who took part.
From left, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray, Mitchell Gold, Bob Williams and Joe Izzo. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray and Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton were among the estimated 5,000 people who attended the event that began on Freedom Plaza in downtown Washington. NBC anchor Eun Yang emceed the AIDS Walk for the second consecutive year, while Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams served as grand marshals.
“This morning we walk to free ourselves completely and absolutely from HIV/AIDS,” Norton said.
Both Norton and Gray discussed the progress D.C. has made in fighting the epidemic.
The latest HIV/AIDS epidemiology report that D.C. officials released last month noted newly diagnosed HIV cases in the nation’s capital decreased 46 percent from 2007.
The report noted the number of HIV/AIDS-related deaths in D.C. dropped from 425 in 2007 to 251 in 2011. It also said 80 percent of those who learned they were living with the virus in 2011 were linked to HIV-specific care within three months of their diagnosis.
“Given the complexity and the severe consequences of a condition like AIDS, for us to say that 30 years later we have made the enormous progress that we have made is absolutely phenomenal,” Gray said, noting the city’s needle exchange program has reduced new HIV cases among intravenous drug users by 80 percent from 2007 to 2011. “It gives absolutely the confidence to those who have this condition or who have family members who have this condition to know that America is working hard to be able to beat this condition.”
In spite of this progress, D.C. continues to have one of the country’s highest HIV/AIDS rates.
Roughly 15,000 Washingtonians — or 2.4 percent of D.C. residents — were living with the virus at the end of 2011. Men who have sex with men and heterosexual sexual contact were the two leading modes of transmission among newly diagnosed HIV cases.
“We know we’ve made tremendous progress, but in recent years D.C. still faces a serious HIV epidemic,” Yang said. “We have to get those numbers down to zero as the mayor said. And we have a lot of work to do.”
Megan Eluhu of Peer Health Exchange, an organization comprised of college students who teach health workshops in D.C. public schools, took part in the AIDS Walk with three of her colleagues.
“This is a really fantastic cause,” Eluhu told the Washington Blade as she walked along Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. “We just wanted to come out and visibility support it.”
D.C. resident Lakisa Blocker talked about her uncle who has lived with HIV for 21 years as she and 11 other members of her group walked near the U.S. Capitol. Another uncle lost his battle with the virus.
“I’m very passionate about finding a cure,” Blocker said.
Whitman-Walker Health CEO Don Blanchon posthumously honored Sean Sasser, an HIV/AIDS advocate who married Pedro Zamora of MTV’s “The Real World: San Francisco” in 1994.
Sasser passed away in August after a battle with mesothelioma.
“He spent 25 years as Don said living with HIV, but his story is not unique,” Sasser’s husband, Michael Kaplan, said after he accepted the award. “What he gets the courage award for was not unique either, and that is about living his life out and openly as an HIV-positive individual.”
AIDS Walk 2013. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
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.
2025 D.C. Trans Pride was held at Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library on Saturday, May 17. The day was filled with panel discussions, art, social events, speakers, a resource fair and the Engendered Spirit Awards. Awardees included Lyra McMillan, Pip Baitinger, Steph Niaupari and Hayden Gise. The keynote address was delivered by athlete and advocate Schuyler Bailar.
(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)
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