Arts & Entertainment
Calendar: Nov. 1
Parties, concerts, exhibits and more through Nov. 7
‘Forever Tango’ explores the history of the tango at the Strathmore. (Photo courtesy of the Strathmore)
Friday, Nov. 1
Adodi D.C., a black same-gender-loving men’s social/spiritual group, hosts its bi-monthly potluck discussion at Metropolitan Community Church of Washington (474 Ridge St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. Please bring food to share. For details, call 202-360-1143 or email [email protected].
D.C. Aquatics Club hosts its “November Happy Hour” at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) from 6-9:30 p.m. The upstairs bar will be reserved and there will be drink specials. For details, visit cobaltdc.com.
Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts Bear Happy Hour tonight from 6-11 p.m. There is no cover charge and admission is limited to guests 21 and over. For more information, visit towndc.com.
Saturday, Nov. 2
Burgundy Crescent, a gay volunteer organization, volunteers today at Food and Friends (219 Riggs Rd., N.E.) from 8-10 a.m. Come help with food preparation and packing groceries. Coffee and donuts will be provided. For details, visit burgundycrescent.org.
Metro Cooking D.C. hosts “The Metropolitan Cooking and Entertainment Show” at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mount Vernon Pl., N.W.) today from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Enjoy samples and tastings from more than 40 chefs and restaurants, 300 vendors and cooking demonstrations from local chefs and workshops. Tickets range from $24.50-$63. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit metrocookingdc.com.
Run or Dye, a tie-dye 5k race, comes to Robert F. Kennedy Stadium (2400 East Capitol St., S.E.) today from 9 a.m.-noon. All ages and levels of fitness welcome. Team registration is $52 per person and individual registration is $57 per person. For registration, visit runordye.com.
JR.’s Bar and Grill (1519 17th St., N.W.) host a scavenger hunt and trivia challenge from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. today to raise money for Stonewall Kickball’s official charity The D.C. Center. Meet at JR.’s at 11 a.m. for instructions and teams have until 3 p.m. to earn points. At 3 p.m., meet at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) for an after party and prizes. Entry fees are $50 per two-person team. Registration includes one free drink at Cobalt, 25 percent off food at Level One (1639 R St., N.W.) and happy hour pricing. For registration, visit stonewallkickballscavengerhunt.eventbrite.com.
Jinkx Monsoon performs her cabaret show with Major Scales “The Vaudevillains” at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. General admission tickets are $20, open seating tickets $35 and open seating and meet-and-greet tickets are $50. For details and to purchase tickets visit flavorus.com.
fallFRINGE, a festival that brings back seven of the top shows from this summer’s Fringe Festival, kicks off this weekend. An opening party with an “all souls potluck” is tonight at 8 p.m. at Fort Fringe: The Shop, Redrum and Bedroom (607 New York Ave., N.W.). Tickets are $20 or $15 with a Fringe button. Visit capitalfringe.org for details on returning shows and more information on the opening party. The festival runs through Nov. 17.
Sunday, Nov. 3
Chick Chat, a singles group for lesbians ages 50 and over, meets at Brookside Gardens (1800 Glenallan Ave., Silver Spring, Md.) today at 2 p.m. for a walk rain or shine. Event is free. Please RSVP to [email protected].
Perry’s (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts its weekly “Sunday Drag Brunch” today from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95 for an all-you-can-eat buffet. For more details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
Converge D.C., a new LGBT-inclusive church, holds its official launch at First Congregational United Church of Christ D.C. (945 G St., N.W.) tonight from 6-7 p.m. For more information, visit convergedc.org.
SMYAL hosts its 16th annual “Fall Brunch” at the Mandarin Oriental (13300 Maryland Ave., S.W.) today at 11 a.m. There will be a cocktail reception and a silent auction. Ally Sheedy will be honored as a community advocate. Tickets are $150. For details, visit smyal.org.
Monday, Nov. 4
The D.C. Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.
The D.C Center (1318 U St., N.W.) hosts a volunteer night from 6:30-8:30 p.m. tonight. Come check out the new facilities, meet new people and give back to the local community center. Activities may include sorting through book donations, cleaning up around the center and taking inventory for FUK!T packets. For details, visit thedccenter.org.
Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) hosts poker night tonight at 8 p.m. Win prizes. Free to play. For more information, visit nelliessportsbar.com.
Tuesday, Nov. 5
Maryland Corporate Council hosts a look forward at 2014 legislative session with Michael Busch, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates, at Ballard Spahr (300 East Lombard St., Baltimore) today from 8-10 a.m. A complimentary continental breakfast will be served. For details, visit marylandcorporate.org.
Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) hosts its weekly ”FUK!T Packing Party” from 7-9 p.m. tonight. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) holds free and confidential HIV testing drop-in hours from 3-5 p.m. today. For details, visit smyal.org.
Wednesday, Nov. 6
The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social bridge. No partner needed. For more information, call 301-345-1571.
The Bachelor’s Mill (1104 8th St., S.E.) hosts happy hour from 5-7:30 p.m. today. All drinks are half price. Enjoy pool, video games and cards. Admission is free. For more details, visit bachelorsmill.com.
Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave., N.W.) hosts a support group for black men living with HIV/AIDS tonight from 7-9 p.m. For more details, visit uhupil.org or call 202-446-1100.
Thursday, Nov. 7
Bookmen D.C., an informal men’s gay literature group, discusses “Tinderbox: How the West Sparked the AIDS Epidemic and How the World Can Finally Overcome It” by Craig Timberg and Daniel Halperin at Tenleytown Library (4450 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. All are welcome. For details, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.
Sphinx Virtuosi, an ensemble comprised of alumni from the Sphinx Competition for young black and Latino string players, performs at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $32. For details, visit wpas.org or call 202-785-9727.
Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md.) presents Luis Bravo’s “Forever Tango” tonight at 8 p.m. for one night only. The Tony-nominated show tells the history of tango with a cast of 14 Argentine dancers and an 11-piece orchestra. Tickets range from $36-$78. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit strathmore.org.
Sports
Attitude! French ice dancers nail ‘Vogue’ routine
Cizeron and Fournier Beaudry strike a pose in memorable Olympics performance
Madonna’s presence is being felt at the Olympic Games in Italy.
Guillaume Cizeron and his rhythm ice dancing partner Laurence Fournier Beaudry of France performed a flawless skate to Madonna’s “Vogue” and “Rescue Me” on Monday.
The duo scored an impressive 90.18 for their effort, the best score of the night.
“We’ve been working hard the whole season to get over 90, so it was nice to see the score on the screen,” Fournier Beaudry told Olympics.com. “But first of all, just coming out off the ice, we were very happy about what we delivered and the pleasure we had out there. With the energy of the crowd, it was really amazing.”
Watch the routine on YouTube here.
Italy
Olympics Pride House ‘really important for the community’
Italy lags behind other European countries in terms of LGBTQ rights
The four Italian advocacy groups behind the Milan Cortina Winter Olympics’ Pride House hope to use the games to highlight the lack of LGBTQ rights in their country.
Arcigay, CIG Arcigay Milano, Milano Pride, and Pride Sport Milano organized the Pride House that is located in Milan’s MEET Digital Culture Center. The Washington Blade on Feb. 5 interviewed Pride House Project Manager Joseph Naklé.
Naklé in 2020 founded Peacox Basket Milano, Italy’s only LGBTQ basketball team. He also carried the Olympic torch through Milan shortly before he spoke with the Blade. (“Heated Rivalry” stars Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie last month participated in the torch relay in Feltre, a town in Italy’s Veneto region.)
Naklé said the promotion of LGBTQ rights in Italy is “actually our main objective.”
ILGA-Europe in its Rainbow Map 2025 notes same-sex couples lack full marriage rights in Italy, and the country’s hate crimes law does not include sexual orientation or gender identity. Italy does ban discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, but the country’s nondiscrimination laws do not include gender identity.
ILGA-Europe has made the following recommendations “in order to improve the legal and policy situation of LGBTI people in Italy.”
• Marriage equality for same-sex couples
• Depathologization of trans identities
• Automatic co-parent recognition available for all couples
“We are not really known to be the most openly LGBT-friendly country,” Naklé told the Blade. “That’s why it (Pride House) was really important for the community.”
“We want to use the Olympic games — because there is a big media attention — and we want to use this media attention to raise the voice,” he added.
Naklé noted Pride House will host “talks and roundtables every night” during the games that will focus on a variety of topics that include transgender and nonbinary people in sports and AI. Another will focus on what Naklé described to the Blade as “the importance of political movements now to fight for our rights, especially in places such as Italy or the U.S. where we are going backwards, and not forwards.”
Seven LGBTQ Olympians — Italian swimmer Alex Di Giorgio, Canadian ice dancers Paul Poirier and Kaitlyn Weaver, Canadian figure skater Eric Radford, Spanish figure skater Javier Raya, Scottish ice dancer Lewis Gibson, and Irish field hockey and cricket player Nikki Symmons — are scheduled to participate in Pride House’s Out and Proud event on Feb. 14.
Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood representatives are expected to speak at Pride House on Feb. 21.
The event will include a screening of Mariano Furlani’s documentary about Pride House and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. The MiX International LGBTQ+ Film and Queer Culture Festival will screen later this year in Milan. Pride House Los Angeles – West Hollywood is also planning to show the film during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Naklé also noted Pride House has launched an initiative that allows LGBTQ sports teams to partner with teams whose members are either migrants from African and Islamic countries or people with disabilities.
“The objective is to show that sports is the bridge between these communities,” he said.
Bisexual US skier wins gold
Naklé spoke with the Blade a day before the games opened. The Milan Cortina Winter Olympics will close on Feb. 22.
More than 40 openly LGBTQ athletes are competing in the games.
Breezy Johnson, an American alpine skier who identifies as bisexual, on Sunday won a gold medal in the women’s downhill. Amber Glenn, who identifies as bisexual and pansexual, on the same day helped the U.S. win a gold medal in team figure skating.
Glenn said she received threats on social media after she told reporters during a pre-Olympics press conference that LGBTQ Americans are having a “hard time” with the Trump-Vance administration in the White House. The Associated Press notes Glenn wore a Pride pin on her jacket during Sunday’s medal ceremony.
“I was disappointed because I’ve never had so many people wish me harm before, just for being me and speaking about being decent — human rights and decency,” said Glenn, according to the AP. “So that was really disappointing, and I do think it kind of lowered that excitement for this.”
Puerto Rico
Bad Bunny shares Super Bowl stage with Ricky Martin, Lady Gaga
Puerto Rican activist celebrates half time show
Bad Bunny on Sunday shared the stage with Ricky Martin and Lady Gaga at the Super Bowl halftime show in Santa Clara, Calif.
Martin came out as gay in 2010. Gaga, who headlined the 2017 Super Bowl halftime show, is bisexual. Bad Bunny has championed LGBTQ rights in his native Puerto Rico and elsewhere.
“Not only was a sophisticated political statement, but it was a celebration of who we are as Puerto Ricans,” Pedro Julio Serrano, president of the LGBTQ+ Federation of Puerto Rico, told the Washington Blade on Monday. “That includes us as LGBTQ+ people by including a ground-breaking superstar and legend, Ricky Martin singing an anti-colonial anthem and showcasing Young Miko, an up-and-coming star at La Casita. And, of course, having queer icon Lady Gaga sing salsa was the cherry on the top.”
La Casita is a house that Bad Bunny included in his residency in San Juan, the Puerto Rican capital, last year. He recreated it during the halftime show.
“His performance brought us together as Puerto Ricans, as Latin Americans, as Americans (from the Americas) and as human beings,” said Serrano. “He embraced his own words by showcasing, through his performance, that the ‘only thing more powerful than hate is love.’”
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