News
Louganis: gay MSNBC anchor should not have hosted Russia pageant
Retired Olympian says Thomas Roberts a ‘feather in Putin’s cap’


Retired Olympian Greg Louganis on Friday, Dec. 13, took part in a Russia briefing on Capitol Hill. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)
Retired Olympic diver Greg Louganis on Friday said he disagrees with gay MSNBC anchor Thomas Roberts and singer Elton John’s decisions to host the Miss Universe 2013 pageant and perform in Russia because of the country’s LGBT rights record.
“I don’t agree with it,” Louganis told the Washington Blade during an interview after he took part in a Russia briefing on Capitol Hill organized by Human Rights First. “It just seems like all they’re doing is lending credibility to what’s going on there because they’re not going to be reporting on the crimes and the horrors that are happening there. You’re going to be a feather in [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s cap.”
Louganis, who learned he was living with HIV six months before he competed in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, came out as gay during an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 1995. He won two gold medals during the Seoul games and in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
Louganis described Russia’s LGBT rights record that includes a law that bans gay propaganda to minors as “very, very disturbing” during the Capitol Hill briefing in which Anastasia Smirnova and Maria Kozlovskaya of the Russian LGBT Network, Elvina Yuvakaeva and Konstantin Iablotckii of the Russian LGBT Sport Federation and gay Rhode Island Congressman David Cicilline also took part. The four-time Olympic gold medalist was unable to compete in the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow because the U.S. boycotted them over the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan the previous year.
“When you’re talking about Olympic boycotts, they hurt the wrong people,” Louganis told the Blade, noting athletes often have a limited amount of time in which they can compete. “You have a window and if that window is taken away from you, you don’t have that opportunity. And I’ve lived that through two boycotts and they truly do hurt the wrong people.”
Iablotckii has invited Louganis to attend the Russian LGBT Sport Federation’s “open games” that are scheduled to take place in Moscow between Feb. 26 and March 2, but the retired Olympic diver said he does not currently have the financial means to travel to the Russian capital. He told the Blade he is not even sure the Russian government would grant him a visa that would allow him to legally enter the country.
“I’d love to be there,” said Louganis.
Louganis spoke with the Blade a week after John blasted Russia’s LGBT rights record during a concert in Moscow.
“You have always embraced me and you have never judged me,” said the gay British singer while on stage. “So I’m deeply saddened and shocked over the current legislation that is now in place against the LGBT community here in Russia.”
Louganis told the Blade he respects John, but questioned the effectiveness of his statement.
“It was skewed in such a way that it really did not help the cause,” said Louganis. “I think it was an attempt, but I don’t know how effective it was.”
Roberts last month co-hosted the Miss Universe pageant 2013 in Moscow with singer Mel B after Andy Cohen said he turned down the request, in part, because “he didn’t feel right as a gay man stepping foot into Russia” as he told E! News.
Masha Gessen, a lesbian Russian American journalist, appeared on the gay MSNBC anchor’s program before he traveled to Moscow. Roberts also interviewed Anton Krasovsky, the former editor-in-chief of a pro-Kremlin television station who said he lost his job in January after he came out during a segment on the gay propaganda law, once he arrived in Russia.
Roberts criticized the aforementioned statute and Russia’s LGBT rights record during a series of pre-pageant interviews with NBC, which co-owns the Miss Universe Organization with Donald Trump, and other media outlets. Neither Roberts nor participants in the Miss Universe 2013 pageant discussed Russia’s LGBT rights record during the broadcast of the event.
“All kids — Russian, American or otherwise — need hope,” wrote Roberts in an MSNBC column that announced his decision to co-host the pageant. “I am a happy, healthy, gainfully employed, educated and married man. And yes, I am gay. These new Russian laws won’t stop Russians from being born LGBT and growing up to identify as such. Russia’s treatment of its LGBT citizens is unacceptable, unrealistic and only promotes homophobia and intolerance for a community that does and will continue to exist.”
Roberts on Dec. 10 moderated a panel on LGBT issues in sports at the United Nations that featured Smirnova, gay former Washington Wizards center Jason Collins, retired tennis champion Martina Navratilova, U.N. Assistant Secretary General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic, South African activist Thandeka “Tumi” Mkhuma and intersex advocate Huda Viloria. The event coincided with the 65th anniversary of the ratification of the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights.
Roberts was unavailable for comment as of deadline.
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.